BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – There are many parents in our state who misuse their car seats without even knowing it. According to North Dakota’s Department of Health and Human Services, in 2025, 3 in 4 car seats checked were being used incorrectly.
Some of those include incorrect harness use, bad tether usage and wrong lower anchor use.
Dawn Mayer, the child safety program director with the Public Health Division at Health and Human Services, warns that incorrect usage of car seats can lead to dangerous consequences.
“It’s easy to take shortcuts, but for this piece of equipment, for your child, you never want to take any shortcuts. Strap them in the car seat, install the car seat in the car correctly every time because you don’t know when the crash is going to occur. Chances are that crashes occur closer to home because we travel closer to home more often. So, don’t take shortcuts, make sure you do it the right way every time,” said Mayer.
If you would like to make sure your car seat is in check, there are certified child passenger safety techs available throughout our state. If you want to learn more, you can head to the North Dakota Child Passenger Safety webpage on the Health and Human Services’ website.
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