How to Buckle Your Child in a Forward-Facing Car Seat

Make Sure the Car Seat Fits Your Child

It's easy to assume that you can grab any car seat with a harness off the shelf and it will work for your child. However, not every child will fit perfectly in every harnessed car seat. You can find the height and weight requirements for any car seat you're considering on the required labels on the product's side.

When you make the switch to forward-facing, make sure that your child meets the minimum weight, height, and age requirements of the car seat you've chosen.

Some forward-facing car seats specify that a child must weigh a minimum of 25 pounds before use. Others require a child to be at least two years old before using the seat forward-facing. You might see other requirements stated by the manufacturer in the instructions and on the side labels.

There are also maximum height and weight limits for the five-point harness when used forward-facing. These vary by manufacturer and by car seat model. Kids usually outgrow their forward-facing car seats by height before they do weight.

When the shoulder straps are in their highest setting and the child's shoulders reach the strap slot, the child is too tall for the five-point harness on that forward-facing car seat.

Adjust the Height of the Shoulder Straps

Forward-facing car seats have more than one harness height position. The shoulder straps should be at your child's shoulders, or slightly above them (not coming up and over the shoulders like a backpack, which is the rule for rear-facing kids).

There are two types of harnesses: Those you have to rethread in order to move the shoulder straps up or down, and those where you move a piece (usually a headrest) up and down to move the shoulder straps. If it looks like there is only one slot for the shoulder straps, you most likely have a car seat with a no-rethread harness.

Rethread Harnesses

Car seats with a rethread harness use a metal splitter plate to connect the shoulder straps to the tail of the strap used to tighten the child. When rethreading the straps, be extra careful not to introduce a twist.

That way you can refer back to the pictures if you're not sure what it should look like after adjusting. You could also just remove one harness strap at a time from the splitter plate. Once the first strap is replaced correctly, you can undo the second one and re-route it.

No-Rethread Harnesses

For car seats with a no-rethread harness, typically there is a lever or button to squeeze that allows you to raise or lower the headrest, which will raise or lower the shoulder straps with it. Check your instruction manual to see how the straps can be adjusted.

Position the Crotch Buckle

Most car seats have at least two positions for the crotch buckle, one closer to the child's body and one farther away. On seats that can also be used rear-facing, some of the crotch buckle positions may only be allowed for rear-facing, and others may only be allowed for forward-facing.

On most forward-facing car seats, the crotch buckle needs to come from in front of the child's body (the child should not be sitting on any part of the strap that the buckle is attached to).

This mistake actually makes the crotch buckle even shorter and tighter on the child. If the crotch buckle seems too low and tight on your child, double-check that you've adjusted the crotch buckle properly.

Loosen the Harness Straps

The first step in getting your child into the car seat is loosening the harness straps. If it's a new car seat, the straps will probably be tightened down pretty far at first. When you loosen the straps each time before you put your child in the seat, you have room to fit the harness around the child without too much tugging or bending their arms in strange positions.

To loosen the straps, find the tail that you pull to tighten the straps. Just above the tail, often hidden under a fabric flap (to make it less likely the child will loosen their own straps while you are driving!), there will be a tab or button.

This is the harness release mechanism. Depending on your particular seat, you'll either lift up or push down on this mechanism while simultaneously pulling the shoulder straps away from the car seat.

Sit Your Child in the Car Seat

Move the harness straps to the side so you don't have to fish them out from behind your child later on. Some car seats even have harness buckle pockets, plastic tabs, Velcro spots, or magnets to hold the harness straps out of the way for you while you get your child situated.

You should also pull the buckle forward before your child gets into the car seat. Even a small child feels pretty heavy when they're sitting on a buckle you need to use.

Make sure your child's back is against the car seat shell. Their bottom also should be back against the seat with no slouching or scooching forward.

Buckle Up

Pull the harness straps around to the front, around your child's shoulders like you are putting on a vest. Their arms go through the holes, and the straps go over the shoulders, down the chest, and over the hips and then buckle between the legs.

Make sure the harness webbing is flat and doesn't have any twists in it. Smooth out those straps every time your child gets in the car because twisted, rope-like straps are not as effective for protecting your child if there's a crash.

The metal pieces that go into the buckle are called the buckle tongues. Place those into the buckle until they click. Some car seats have what's called a puzzle buckle, where the buckle tongues have to be fitted together in a certain way before they'll click into the buckle.

Pull the Harness Snug

Buckling the harness isn't enough to keep your little one safe in a crash. To work properly, it must also be snug. Most car seat harnesses are tightened using a webbing tail that comes out between your child's feet.

You need to pull on it hard, several times, to get a snug fit. Some car seats have knobs or other tightening mechanisms, but the webbing tail is most common. Make sure you know the steps of the tightening process.

With the chest clip low around the belly, hold the chest straps, and pull firmly upwards. If done properly, you'll notice that the straps around the child's legs get snug, and lots of slack gathers near the shoulders. Let go of the chest straps, and pull hard on the webbing tail to remove the slack.

Next, repeat: slide the chest clip down, pull the chest straps up, pull the webbing tail. Repeat until there is no slack and you cannot pinch any webbing at the collarbone when you pull up on the shoulder straps.

The chest clip is the very last step in harnessing the child. After the straps are snug, move the chest clip up until the top of the clip is at the top of the armpits.

Adjust the Chest Clip

The chest clip (which is actually called a harness retainer clip) helps keep the straps on the shoulders (not falling off to the sides of the arms). After you fasten the harness retainer clip, slide it down as far as it goes, near your child's belly button. You'll slide it up later, after tightening the harness.

Always readjust the chest clip and harness every time you take your child in and out of the seat. If you try to buckle them into straps that are properly snug, your child is not going to like it.

It is much easier for you and more pleasant for your child to be buckled into straps that are loose (and then tightened after buckling). The same goes for coming out of the seat; loosen the straps to make it easier to get the arms out.