Did you know that 8 out of 10 car seats are mis-used? It could be as simple as the car seat is too loosely installed in the vehicle, the harness straps are too loose on the child, the chest clip at the belly-button or any number of things we parents dont think of as a big deal. 
Have you ever wondered if yours could be one of the 8 or are you confident yours is one of the 2 that are correct? Most of the car seat professionals in Snohomish County wish our statistics were that good here. We would actually say our stats are more like 9 out of 10 are improper in some way. Unfortunately, it is rare we see a seat with no errors. Don't be a statistic. Any one of those minor mis-uses could be life changing if you were to be in a crash?
If only car seats were as easy to use as we parents think they should be! There is help out there! Snohomish County has many Nationally Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians. They can help you decipher between the car seat instructions and the vehicle manual. They can show you how your seat belt works with car seats or if you have LATCH. They can show you how the harness should fit on your child. They can talk to you about the importance of keeping your baby/toddler rear-facing for as long as possible (the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends up to two years old now). They can talk to you and your older child about staying in a booster seat until they actually fit the seat belt system (which is designed for an average males body) and why kids should stay in the back seat until they are at least 13 years old!
There has been a lot of negative information out there recently about car seats and we would like to help. Car seats are a great safety device. They are even better if they are used properly.
The Snohomish County Child Passenger Safety Team, a part of Safe Kids Snohomish County, would like to help. The Snohomish County Child Passenger Safety Team will begin offering FREE quarterly car seat checks around Snohomish County. This is in addition to the regularly scheduled car seat checks that occur on a regular basis. The first of these quarterly checks will be next Tuesday, March 10th in the Kmart parking lot in Marysville. Gracious sponsors  Roy Robinson Chevrolet, American Family Insurance and Dominos pizza; along with the Marysville Fire District and Providence Regional Medical Center (Safe Kids Snohomish Countys lead agency) bring this to you in their never-ending quest to keep the children in their community safe. If you have questions about Child Passenger Safety or Injury Prevention in general, be sure to check out the Safe Kids website at snosafekids.org or Marysville Fire District at www.marysvillefiredistrict.org.