Reader Questions: Choosing Carseats for a US Roadtrip

This is a reader question from Kristen, a mom from Australia who is planning a road trip through the United States.

I am travelling from Australia to the US with 2 small children - was planning on bringing carseats from here as we will be in US for few months, would those car seats meet US standards? Otherwise how do I find out about renting car seats in Indianapolis. Thanks

Thanks for your question!

You should contact the car seat manufacturer to find out whether your specific seats are approved for use in the US. That said, I've never heard of a police officer taking the time to inspect a car seat to make sure it was US approved, so if I were in your shoes, that wouldn't be my first source of concern.

More important (and unfortunately more time consuming) is making sure that your children will be restrained properly according the laws of each state you will be visiting. Some states are more restrictive than others, and it is probably easiest to follow the rules of the most restrictive state throughout your trip. For example, in Washington State (among the most restrictive states in the US) children must use a child restraint until they are 8 years old and cannot use a booster until they are 4. In contrast, in California, a child over 40 pounds may ride in the rear seat with only a lap belt and may move from a toddler seat to a booster seat whenever the manufacturer instructions state that they are old enough.

If you do find out that you need new car seats, your trip is long enough that it would be cheaper to buy an inexpensive seat than to rent seats (rentals are usually $5 to $10 per day). You could head directly to a Toys R Us or Target store near the airport, or order seats online from a company like Amazon to be delivered to your first hotel room.

Good luck!

Filed Under: car-seat carseat travel-tips

2 comments | Posted on March 19, 2009 | Save to del.icio.us

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