Car Seat Laws By State

I've had several questions lately about car seat laws in various states. If you're not sure what your state requires in terms of car seat and booster use, please check out the State by State Car Seat Laws page. Many states are moving toward the federal recommendations for car seat and booster use, which suggests that children should be in rear-facing car seats to at least one year old and 20 lbs.; in a harnessed forward-facing car seat until about age 4 or until the harnessed car seat is outgrown; and in a booster seat until about age 8, 80 lbs., and 4'9" tall.

If your state's car seat laws are nowhere near the federal recommendations, remember that it is not illegal to go above and beyond those minimum standards set forth in the law. Many child passenger safety advocates now recommend extended rear-facing and extended harnessing because those methods have been shown to keep children safer.

If your state has recently updated its car seat or booster seat laws, please email me and let me know so the pages can be updated quickly!