• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), car crashes are a leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 13, and many of these deaths could be prevented with the proper use of child restraint systems or child safety seats
• Buying low-cost car seats from unverified or secondhand sources puts children at risk of a counterfeit or damaged seat
• Caregivers should also be mindful that car seats have expiration dates

September is National Child Passenger Safety Awareness Month, and time for caregivers to review the child safety seats their little ones are using. While inflation and other pressures mean many families are looking to save money, purchasing a car seat is not the time to skimp, due to the dangers posed by secondhand or potentially counterfeit seats.

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Nissan Snug Kids ® program child safety seat evaluation day at Nissan Smyrna Field Quality Center on Aug. 15, 2022. (Photo: Business Wire)

“Don't install a used seat, an expired seat, or a seat that's been in a collision, and make sure it was tested according to federal standards,” said Robert Sinclair Jr, senior manager of public affairs at AAA. “It’s also crucial to make sure you’re using a car seat correctly to keep your child safe in a crash. If installed properly, the car seat should not be able to move more than an inch in any direction at the belt path and there should be no slack if you pinch the strap at the child’s shoulder,” said Sinclair.

Nissan introduced Snug Kids^®, an industry-first program, 20 years ago. It is geared specifically toward safety for children in child restraint systems (CRS), commonly referred to as "child safety seats.” Not all CRS fit in all vehicles. Nissan safety engineers have spent thousands of hours evaluating hundreds of CRS by installing them in the rear seats of Nissan and INFINITI vehicles. The result is the Snug Kids^® Child Safety Seat Fit Guide, which helps parents confidently select a CRS that fits their Nissan or INFINITI while also providing valuable tips on the proper fit of a CRS.

“Nissan prioritizes passenger safety for all occupants,” said Matthew Gapinski, senior manager, product safety engineering at Nissan. “Our Snug Kids team of certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians works directly with child seat manufacturers to make sure we are checking for a proper fit of their latest seat models in our vehicles.”

For additional help correctly installing car seats, parents can search a list maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to find certified technicians in their area.

“Parents and caregivers also should read their child restraint system’s owner’s manual and vehicle owner’s manual to ensure proper installation and use of car seats and boosters,” said Gapinski. “I’m often asked which car seat is the best, and my response is ‘the one that best fits your vehicle and that you can install and use correctly every time.’”

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Nissan Snug Kids^®

Not all car seats fit in all vehicles, and choosing the appropriate child restraint system can be confusing. Nissan’s Snug Kids program exists to help make that process easier. Launched in 2002, Snug Kids is an industry-first car seat installation program explicitly geared toward child passenger safety.

According to statistics from the CDC, Black (45%) and Hispanic (46%) children are less likely to be buckled up compared to white (26%) children. Nissan has created an award-winning social media program, the “Nissan Presents: Bloggin’ Mamas Safety Academy,” to educate these communities in the area of child passenger safety leveraging the expertise of Nissan’s Snug Kids engineers.

Visit http://www.nissanusa.com/snugkids for more information about the Snug Kids program and to access fit guides and valuable tips on the proper fit of a child restraint system.

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