New car seat law goes into effect Aug. 1

A new child safety seat law goes into effect in Minnesota on Thursday and age is now a criteria for using car and booster seats. 

These are the new requirements which up until now were simply recommendations:

• Birth to 2 years: Kids must be in a rear-facing infant seat with an internal harness or convertible child safety seat.
• Ages 2 to 4: Kids can use a forward-facing seat with an internal harness only once the child has outgrown the rear-facing seat by height or weight.
• Ages 4 to 9:  Kids can use a booster seat with a lap and shoulder belt only once they’ve outgrown the forward-facing seat by height or weight.
• All kids under 13 must ride in the back seat if possible.

“We are trying to get our law closest to best practice for what we have been recommending for years,” said Tara Helm with the Minnesota Safety Council.  

Helm says the biggest change is keeping kids rear-facing longer. She says it’s the best way to protect their head, neck and spine.

“The car seat is designed to keep the impact away from the neck and spinal cord. Once you go forward-facing, it can put a lot of stress on those parts of their body,” she said.

For Minnesotans in violation of the new statute, law enforcement will have discretion to either educate or issue a citation. If drivers make the correction in 14 days, the citation will be dropped.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story has been updated to correct an error.