LATCH Child Safety System Dangerously Underused

By Heather Siladi

Published on January 09, 2007

LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children), was developed to standardize and simplify the way child safety seats are installed in vehicles. The system, standard on all back seats of vehicles manufactured in 2002 or later, consists of an upper tether which attaches to the top of a child seat in a seated position (as opposed to the rear-facing reclined position used for infants), and a lower anchor which attaches to the bottom of the child seat.

From April to October of 2005, the NHSTA conducted a survey to gather information about how child restraints were actually being used, focusing on the LATCH system. The survey found that only 55-percent of child seats installed in cars with LATCH were using the system.

When interviewed about whether the LATCH system was easy to use, 81-percent of people using the upper tethers and 74-percent of people using the lower anchors said that the system was easy to use, and 75-percent said that the LATCH system was easier than seat belts.

Of the people not using the LATCH system in vehicles where the system was available, 61-percent cited that they didn’t know the system was there or didn’t know how to use it.

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