LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — For Michigan’s youngest passengers, the most effective safety feature in a vehicle isn’t advanced braking or extra airbags. It’s a properly used car seat.

Car crashes remain the leading cause of death for older children and teens. But among infants and toddlers, fatality rates are significantly lower—a gap safety officials attribute largely to consistent car seat use in the earliest years of life.

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The risk rises as children get older, not because the roads change, but because habits do. Experts say many parents move children out of car seats and booster seats too early, often around kindergarten age, even though standard seat belts are designed for adult bodies.

Michigan law requires children under 8 and shorter than 4 feet 9 inches to be secured in an appropriate car or booster seat. Safety specialists stress that height and weight, not age, should drive the decision, and some children need boosters well into elementary school.

Proper installation is just as important. Data from Safe Kids Worldwide show more than half of all car seats are installed or used incorrectly, reducing their effectiveness in a crash. When used correctly, child restraints can reduce the risk of death by 71%.

Fire departments and health agencies across Michigan regularly offer car seat inspection clinics, urging families to keep children rear-facing longer and delay the transition to seat belts alone.