Minnesota child passenger safety law changes go into effect August 1

GRAND FORKS — Changes to Minnesota's child passenger safety law, including age specifications for each safety seat category, will go into effect Aug. 1.

Beforehand, the law relied on a child's height and weight to determine the appropriate safety measures, but the new guidelines add age as one of the determining factors.

"This is, I think, a positive step for parents," said Mike Hanson, director of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety's Traffic Safety Office. "We've provided all of the information they need in one place."

The initiative to update this law, sponsored by the DPS, was taken to the Legislature earlier this year, where it passed with strong bipartisan support, Hanson said.

"Once we put all the information on the table, and really established the fact that we were following nationally accepted best practices, it was a pretty easy conversation to have with them," he said.

The new guidelines advise that, from birth until they are at least 2 years old, a child should be rear-facing in either an infant or convertible child safety seat.

When they are at least 2 years old, and have outgrown the rear-facing seat by height or weight, they can be moved to a forward-facing seat that has an internal harness.

When the child is at least 4 years old and has outgrown the forward-facing seat by height or weight, they can ride restrained in a belt-positioning booster seat, using the vehicle's lap and shoulder belt.

Once a child turns 9 or has outgrown the booster seat, and can pass the five-step test that determines the seat belt fits them correctly, they can ride on the vehicle seat restrained by a lap and shoulder belt.

To determine whether a child's seat belt fits correctly, the DPS advises guardians to observe if, when the child sits all the way back against the vehicle seat, their knees bend over the seat edge.

The lap belt should fit snugly across the child's hips, near the top of their thighs, not their abdomen. The shoulder belt should snugly cross the center of their chest and shoulder, not their neck.

The child should sit correctly, without slouching, during the vehicle ride.

Children under the age of 13 should sit in the back seat, but the law acknowledges this may not always be possible — such as if a vehicle doesn't have any back seats, or there are more passengers under age 13 than there are back seats.

"We want to provide guidelines and best practices for parents, but there are going to be those circumstances where parents have to exercise some judgment," Hanson said. "Always use the safest approach that you can."

A press release issued by the DPS included preliminary data on the state's motor vehicle crashes from 2019 to 2023. It says that, of the 12,827 children who were properly restrained, 89% were uninjured and 10% sustained minor injuries.

Three components have to work together to protect children while they're being transported in motor vehicles — the car seat, the child and the vehicle, he said.

Parents need to study the manual that comes with their child's car seat, as well as the manual for the vehicle they're installing the seat in.

"Those things have to work together," Hanson said. "The manuals still provide that foundational information, while the law gives you the general guidelines."

Anyone who has questions, or cannot afford the proper safety restraints for their child, can visit the DPS website. A section of the website lists, by county, who residents can reach out to if they are in need of a car seat.