Child restraints — North Carolina Permit Test

Every driver carrying a passenger under 16 must make sure each one is properly secured in a child passenger restraint system or a seat belt that meets federal standards.

A child cannot be expected to buckle themselves. The law puts that job on whoever is driving.

Every driver transporting one or more passengers younger than 16 years of age must make sure that each passenger under age 16 is properly secured in a child passenger restraint system or a seat belt which meets the federal safety standards that were in effect at the time it was manufactured.

A child under age 8 and weighing less than 80 pounds must be properly secured in a weight-appropriate child passenger restraint system.

An adult belt is built for an adult body. On a small child it rides across the neck and stomach, where it hurts instead of holds.

A child under age 8 and weighing less than 80 pounds must be properly secured in a weight appropriate child passenger restraint system.

If the vehicle has an active passenger-side front air bag and a rear seat, a child under age 5 and weighing less than 40 pounds must be secured in the rear seat, unless the restraint is designed for use with a front air bag.

A front air bag comes out hard enough to kill a small child. The back seat is out of its reach.

If the vehicle is equipped with an active passenger-side front air bag and the vehicle has a rear seat, then a child under age 5 and weighing less than 40 pounds must be properly secured in the rear seat unless the child restraint system is designed for use with a front air bag system.

If no seating position with a lap and shoulder belt is available to secure the restraint, a child under 8 who weighs between 40 and 80 pounds may be restrained by a properly fitted lap belt only.

An older car may have only lap belts in the back. The law allows that for a bigger child rather than leave them unbelted.

If there are no available seating positions in the vehicle equipped with a lap and shoulder belt to properly secure the weight appropriate child restraint system, a child under age 8 and between 40 and 80 pounds can be restrained by a properly fitted lap belt only.

A booster seat should be used for a child who has outgrown a safety seat until a seat belt fits correctly: the lap belt snug across the hips, not the stomach, and the shoulder belt across the shoulder and chest, not the face or throat.

The belt only protects the parts of the body it crosses. On a child it has to cross bone, not the soft stomach or the neck.

The lap seat belt must fit snugly across the child’s hips, not across the stomach. The shoulder portion of a lap/ shoulder belt must fall across the shoulder and chest, not across the face or throat.

Properly used safety seats could save seven out of every 10 children who are killed while unrestrained.

Most of the children who die unbelted would have lived in a seat. The seat is the difference, not the crash.

Properly used safety seats could save seven out of every 10 children who are killed while unrestrained.

Who is responsible for making sure a passenger under 16 is properly secured?

The driver of the vehicle. A child cannot be expected to buckle themselves. The law puts that job on whoever is driving. North Carolina Driver Handbook, p.44: “Every driver transporting one or more passengers younger than 16 years of age must make sure that each passenger under age 16 is properly secured in a child passenger restraint system or a seat belt which meets the federal safety standards that were in effect at the time it was manufactured.”