Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

I'm so annoyed! As far as I understood, you could go to your local fire or police station to have your car seat installed correctly.....WRONG!!!

Back story, ds threw up all over the car seat. I took the whole thing out to clean it and wash the cover. DH was going to put it back in the car when he got home from work and I forgot all about swim lessons. The seat needed to be back in the car before DH gets home and I didn't trust myself to do it properly.

So, I called the 3rd precinct yesterday and was told "they won't train us on it because they don't want the liability" Whaaaaaat? So the serve part of protect and serve is only for things they can't be potentially sued for at a later date?? The cop I spoke to actually said he wished they would train them on it because he agreed it was important that people have someone to help with something so important. They told me to call my local fire house.

Called the local fire house and they told me to call the 3rd precinct

I don't understand it! We pay a gazillion $$ in taxes and the county is not interested in providing a safe way to install car seats? I called the county info line (because 311 had no one to suggest to me) and they said they had a guy, but he was on vacation. You have ONE guy to service the whole county?? "Oh no, we have 2, but the guy for your area is on vacation" (which is 20 mins from my house by the way).

Listen, I know I should've planned ahead here, but I made a mistake and I couldn't believe there was no alternative for me other than doing it myself or not leaving the house.

I mean, just because you have a baby doesn't mean you're qualified to install the car seat. I feel like every birthing class, doctor, hospital tour, etc has ALWAYS said if you're unsure, go to the fire/police station to have them do it. Am I imagining that?? I was shocked that they refused to help me. I'm sick that we live in a society of "that's not my job". Seems everyone wants to pass the buck and the interest of helping each other is overpowered by fear of litigation/liability.

fyi....after calling 4 local fire stations, I finally had one that said come in and we'll help you. They installed the seat for me but were sure to say repeatedly....we're not doing this a firehouse members, we're just a couple of guys helping you out.

I guess I'm just venting but also wanted to put this out there as a PSA for new mommies that thought they could rely on their local stations to help them.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

How frustrating! Like you said, you should have planned better. However, to be told there is only two people to serve all of Nassau is absurd. What about contacting CarSeatSafety (Chris). I haven't seen him post in a while but he is trained to install car seats.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

Sorry it was so frustrating

Do these people/places actually install the seats, though? I could be completely wrong, but it's always been my understanding that you have to do it & then they check & correct it for you if need be. That's what we do - we do the installation to the best of our ability & then bring it to Hassell Auto Body on Rt. 109 to have it inspected. If you're not too far away from W. Babylon, perhaps you can call Hassell to see if they'll do the installation for you?

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

Hollie, exactly!! I knew there was a guy here that did this, but at the time, I couldn't remember his name and the lif search tool stinks.

Thanks Jam...but I'm all the way in western Nassau and DH checked over what the guys did last night when he got home.

Like I said, I know I should've planned better, but I really did forget about swim (we were away for a week and then it was ds's 1st birthday) so our schedule/routine was just off.

I don't know if it was just me, but I always thought that these were the people to go to for help with this. I was just floored that there was NO emergency option.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

That really does stink. Sorry you had to go through that

But I have to say, I'm not surprised. In this day in age where anyone who tries to help someone out can be held responsible if something goes wrong, I can see why they do this. Because of potential lawsuits and other issues, I'm sure they have to cover their arses (which is probably why the firemen kept saying the below to you).

Message edited 8/11/2011 9:24:32 AM.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

Blame the lawsuits. Who wouldn’t settle in court with a heart broken mom is up against a well meaning cop for the installation of a car seat. Even if he installed it 1000% correctly if any shadow of a doubt that the installation caused the injury or death then it’s a terrible case to be on. NO ONE wants to take on a grieving mother on a public forum like court.

We install our own. We both double check it and read the instructions very carefully. We’ve had it inspected once and it was cleared. Since then we allow NO ONE to install her seat but us.

I think car seat manufacturers should be required to make installation easier. Even if it meant smaller amounts of models specific to certain brands of cars. Or if Car Manufacturers were required to team up with Car Seat Manufactures so remove a lot of the doubt. I can’t install OEM Japanese parts into my Mazda because they won’t fit or work but somehow its perfectly acceptable car seats are world wide designed. I see a flaw in this method. We’ve come so far with car seat safety but the biggest variable is the parent’s (or cop’s) ability to properly install it. That, in my mind, means they built a poor product.

Its like selling a breathing machine to a dying person but saying “We won’t assemble it” great so hopefully we get it right but we won’t know unless its tragic. We don’t design the device, we are just the average joe using the product but we are left with the worry and the anxiety of “Was it done right?”

Sorry for the ramble.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

One issue is yes, that they don't want the liability, the other is money/training/need. The tech training course is a full week long, and installing a seat is not as easy as one would think. Then they have to have willing participants who want to go for a week and sit there and learn and then be available to check the seats. And the course costs money too. And, in order to keep our certification, we have to do continuing education hours. Not a lot of people are willing to do it on top of their other duties. Mostly because until you try to install a seat in a difficult car, you think it's pretty straight forward to install it.


A couple things to quickly check until you can get it inspected:

The seat should not move more than 1" side to side or front to back AT THE BELTPATH only! (If you pull it from the back of the seat it will move and that is fine)

The seat should be installed with either LATCh or the seatbelt, not both.

In most vehicles, you can't use LATCh in the center position. If you're installed in the center and they used LATCh rather than the seatbelt it may be incorrect.

FF seats should be tethered. RF seats should not unless you have a Combi Coccoro, Britax or Sunshine Kids Radian.

Chris is in Nassau, he can help you. 516-571-9664

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

Posted by Xelindrya


Its like selling a breathing machine to a dying person but saying “We won’t assemble it” great so hopefully we get it right but we won’t know unless its tragic. We don’t design the device, we are just the average joe using the product but we are left with the worry and the anxiety of “Was it done right?”

Sorry for the ramble.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

We were told not to use both because they are designed to perform differently if there's an accident based on how they're installed. When you use both LATCH & the belts it takes away from the "support" and how the seat is supposed to be balanced out, etc and the seat isn't as safe...That may not be the technical/correct explanation, but that's how we were told in layman's terms

ETA: sorry that Hassell isn't closer to you

Message edited 8/11/2011 9:50:01 AM.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

My old FD use to have a car seat program, but do to the fact they are all volunteer and don't get funding by the county, it was dropped after a couple of years. Couldn't afford it. A lot of FD's don't get funding for such things and have to pay out of pocket for training. It sucks all around. IMO everyone should know how to correctly install their car seat. What happens if you are out of town and have to remove it. I have never had my seat "professionally" installed. I have had them inspected and there was never a problem.. And there is liability... I wouldn't want to put someone in that position. If a child is injured in an accident, it is going to come back to who ever installed the seat...

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

Posted by Xelindrya
I think car seat manufacturers should be required to make installation easier. Even if it meant smaller amounts of models specific to certain brands of cars. Or if Car Manufacturers were required to team up with Car Seat Manufactures so remove a lot of the doubt.



Sorry for the ramble.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

thanks for all the replies ladies....I learned a lot this morning.

just a PS...DH does know how to do it, I just didn't trust myself to get it on there as tight as a man could.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

there are usually 1 or 2 officers in a precint that are specialized in installing these things. Not every officer and not every precint does it. at least in my experience trying to find someone in PA.

Check with your pediatrician. they might have a listing of car seat installation stations that do this specifically;

I know its frustrating and I try to avoid removing the seat out of the car unless absolutely necessary b/c where I live you need an appointment like weeks in advance.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

Chris is great for carseats he does all of ours - but I agree it is annoying that there are only 1 or 2 people in Nassau. There is ONE person at the police station in GC who does it BUT when we called in the past he is never available or there is like a month wait and he will ONLY do town residents. The only thing is that I know my mom needed her seat checked when she had to take it out b.c they had company riding in their car - I couldn't get an appointment at the hicksville place for like 2 weeks. DD's car seat wasn't tightening well and needed my mom to help drive DD places - they were closed for a while then didn't have any appointments. My mom finally gave up and just showed up and they were nice and did it - but the person over the phone couldn't help us.

Magano promotes the car safety they should honestly have a few more people in every county trained and pay them to maintain their training. I think it is inexcusable.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

It isn't easy finding someone to do it, that's for sure! Chris installed the seats in our minivan - had to drive there from Centereach! I'll do it again when DD2 switches to a convertible seat.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

The County Executive promoted Child Safety seat safety only because I asked his office to. After the request, he not only agreed but he found a location that could be dedicated to provide the service.

That said, It is true that I am one of the few people in Nassau County that does seats on a regular basis. It is also true I am taking a vacation and will be out for a week and a half.

I have seen as many peopla as I can, and I have also given out my personal cell number for peopla to call. If anyone that reads this cannot get an appointment, forum mail me and I will see if I can get you in. My secretary is very protective of ma and strictly books by availability. Mew on the other hand feel guilty if someone cannot get in, but that often times gets me in trouble with people waiting.

Come the fall I will be adding a few weekend days to accomodate the demand for the service. UNderstand that this is being done on a volunteer basis by myself.

Oh, by the way, whoever said they won't train because of liability is lying! The police at one time were trained. What happened was that in Nassau County the police do not work steady tours and are not stationed at any one location to provide the service. Because of the limited manpower, officers are more and more being deployed away from the precincts. Rumors always abound and should not be taken as fact.

Message edited 8/12/2011 10:00:57 AM.

Re: Getting car seat installed **VENT** (PSA)

Just wanted to post this in case someone from TOH doesn't have it.


http://www.townofhempstead.org/content/cs/childsafe.html


I have had 2 car seats installed/checked using this program and will be having our seat checked again since we just got a new car this week.

I just called the number literally right now and was able to get an apptmt for Aug 25th. I know this program has checks weekly so I wasn't expecting that I would be seen same day.

TOH car seat safety check schedule