GREENSBORO, N.C. — You're about to leave the house and because it's cold, you put on your coat. It happens automatically. But when there are kids who sit in car seats involved, you need to rethink putting on the coat.
"In a crash, if he was still wearing his coat, his coat would compress, all that puffiness would compress leaving this extra room, which gives him additional room to move and potentially move outside the safety of his car seat which would increase his risk of injury," said Emily Thomas Ph.D., Consumer Reports Car Seat Expert.
There's an easy way to check if your child's coat is too puffy or bulky:
Secure your child in the car seat wearing the coat so there is no slack in the harness straps.
Remove the coat and put the child back in the seat.
If the straps are loose, there's a problem and the coat should not be worn while the child is in the car seat.
"I also do the daycare drop-off every morning and I know that it can be annoying and kind of inconvenient to have to remove their coats to put them into their car seats. But I will tell you it is important to their safety and we do want them to be as safe as we can in their car seat," said Thomas.
So, how do you keep a child warm in the car? You can use a blanket over them in the car seat or secure the child in the car seat and put the coat on sleeves backward, so the coat is fitted over the child, but not under the straps.