• Car seats keep children safe during automobile accidents.child in a carseat image by Renata Osinska from Fotolia.com
  
  California child car safety seat weight requirements are designed to help your children to survive an automobile accident. Even the slightest of accidents can cause injury to passengers not properly restrained. Newborns and infants are particularly vulnerable in an accident since they have no ability to protect themselves. A child safety seat that is being used properly provides an excellent level of protection for your child.
  
  

Seat Requirement

• Since January 2005, California law requires each child up to six years old and up to 60 pounds to be properly restrained in a child passenger restraint system (CPRS) in the rear seat of a vehicle. There are six specific exceptions to the requirement to place small children in the rear seat: there is no seat in the back of the vehicle; the rear seats are jump seats that face to the side; the rear seats face backwards; there is a confirmed medical reason that requires the child to sit in the front seat; the CPRS will not work properly in the rear seat; or if all of the rear seats are in use by children under 12 year of age.
  
  

Infant Requirements

• Newborns and infants weighing from 20 to 35 pounds are required by law to sit in a rear facing CPRS. The requirement to sit facing the rear applies to children up to one year old, and children must attain a weight of at least 20 pounds before the parents or guardians allow a child to sit facing forward. Under no circumstances should infant and newborn seats designed to face to the rear be altered to face forward. Children weighing 20 pounds or more that are allowed to sit facing forward must be seated in a seat designed to face forward. An officer will issue a citation to the parent, guardian or driver of the vehicle for each child that is seated in violation of the law.
  
  

Booster Requirements

• Children who weigh over 40 pounds may sit in an approved booster seat. The lap belt and shoulder restraint installed in the vehicle will be used to restrain the child. The shoulder restraint must cross the child's collar bone and extend across the center of the child's chest. Children at least six years old who weigh over 60 pounds may sit without a booster seat if the shoulder restraint fits the child properly. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends all children under age 13 sit in the rear seat of all vehicles unless one of the legal exemptions apply.