Why Car Seat Covers are Unsafe                       

May 11
10:51

2015

Jason Kassel, PhD

Jason Kassel, PhD

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Like most parents, you probably buy everything you can to make sure that your baby is safe and comfortable. You want to give him or her all of the best, including a top quality car seat and crib, the best clothes, toys, and all of the extras. You want to make them happy. One thing that you might buy to make this happen is a car seat cover. This is a common choice because it provides comfort and a look that you like. With their availability, you can find nearly anything for you and your baby. The only issue here is that car seat covers are not safe.

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You might have heard about this before,Why Car Seat Covers are Unsafe                        Articles but you might not know why people say this. Car seat covers are simple so you fail to see how they are unsafe. They provide comfort and a better appearance without changing much about the car seat. What you are not keeping in mind, though, is that car seat covers are not sold with the car seat itself. You are buying products from other manufacturers. You are buying something that has no connection to your purchased car seat. This might not seem like much at first, but it is a big deal when you consider crash testing.

Crash testing only considers the car seat itself. All information about crash safety uses the car seat without any extras. Extras, such as a car seat cover, can affect the fit and tightness of the car seat. While you may not see it as a big deal, you have to remember that changing the car seat means that the crash testing information is no longer usable. Your car seat is not in the same condition so the crash testing results do not apply to it. What you once thought as safe may not work as well as you had expected.

Car seat covers alone are relatively harmless. There is not much to worry about them on their own unless there is an issue with quality. The problem here does not lie in the car seat cover, though. It is all about how the cover affects the fit and usability of the car seat, directly affecting the safety of the child. Unless sold with the car seat, the cover is not crash tested. There is no way for you to know that the car seat is safe with the cover on it.