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That's because I test drive at least one new car
or truck every week, and little Cate almost always comes along for the ride.
So it stands to reason that I'm excited about
the new child seating system known as "LATCH" (short for Lower Anchors and
Tethers for Children). LATCH has two components: a top-tether anchor for use
with forward-facing seats and easy-lock lower anchor points for use with all
child safety seats. LATCH is a blessing for anyone who's ever struggled with car
seat belts to install a child safety seat. (And if you're really getting the
child seat snug enough, you're doing some wrestling.) This new system eliminates
the need to even touch the car's belts when you're putting in a child seat. The
lower anchor portion of the LATCH system will be required in all new cars,
minivans, and light trucks beginning September 1, 2002. But it has already shown
up in many 2001 cars and trucks, including the Ford Escape sport-utility
vehicle, General Motors' minivans, the Nissan Frontier pickup truck, the
Infiniti G20 sedan, and Chrysler's redesigned minivans.
How LATCH Works
In vehicles equipped with lower anchors, safety seat anchors are tucked away in
the space where the seat back meets the seat bottom (where the seat belts come
out). New child seats—currently available from Fisher-Price and Cosco, and soon
to be out from Britax—have special belts or hard attachment points with hooks
that connect to the anchors. Once the seat is hooked in, you simply tighten the
child-seat belts according to directions and you should be ready to roll with a
seat that's sure to be properly secured. If you have an older car, the new child
seats can also be installed via the regular seat belts. By September 2002, all
child safety seats will also have to have two lower attachments that connect to
a vehicle's LATCH anchorage points.
Even if your vehicle isn't equipped with the
lower anchor, car seat tether straps attached to anchor tether points in the
vehicle can improve child-seat security. As of September 1, 2000, all new cars,
minivans, and trucks were required to have anchors for use with child-seat
tether straps. These anchors are often found on the shelf behind the back seat
of a car, or on the seat back or floor of a van or SUV. When attached to the
tether strap found on most new child seats, these anchors help reduce head
injury to children by decreasing the distance your child's head moves forward in
a crash. Older-model cars can be retrofitted with tether anchor attachments, so
contact your dealer. (Some older safety seats can also be fitted with the
tether, so contact the manufacturer.)
Room for Improvement
Alas, nothing is ever truly easy when it comes to protecting kids in cars. I
have two nits about the new LATCH system. First, because the government requires
automakers to have the lower anchors in two rear seating positions, you usually
get them in the seats next to the doors and not the safest center seat. Phil
Haseltine, president of the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety and chairman
of the advisory panel that recommended the system, says that's because many rear
seats aren't big enough to accommodate two full-size child seats right next to
each other. (In that case, maybe a third center-seat should be mandatory!)
However, the top tether anchors are required in three positions.
Second complaint: On most cars I've tested
with LATCH, it's much easier to hook the seats in than to unhook them. This
should be less of a problem when child-seat makers begin selling special LATCH
seats with hard lower attachment points instead of standard seats with LATCH
mini-belts. Then again, most people won't be taking their child safety seats in
and out of cars as often as I do.
ClubMom's AutoPro, Jayne O'Donnell, is a
Washington, D.C.-based reporter (and new mom!) whose automotive expertise and
investigative reporting skills have helped break some of the biggest auto-safety
stories of the past several years.
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