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Aftermarket Products and Winter Clothing

Aftermarket Products

Transport Canada has identified that many aftermarket products could be considered a safety risk when added to a child restraint system or booster seat.

The following is summary of some of the most common products that are not recommended for use:

Add-on Trays
Harness Strap covers
Mobiles
Seat Belt Adjusters
Bulky Winter Clothing
Head Huggers, or Head Support Cushions
Padded Car Seat Bags
Additional padding between the harness and your child

 

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Head Huggers or Head Support Cushions

These come with most infant car seats. If this half circle support cushion is attached to your car seat and can not move, then you may use it. If it is not and is just threaded through your harness system, it is recommended that you remove it. Instead, take two receiving blankets (one for each side of your child's head), roll up, place beside the outsides of your carseat and have them curl in towards your baby's head like a candy cane. So this roll will be going up beside your baby's arms and shoulders and then filling in the gap on either side of your infant's head. This is the recommend method used to stabilize an infant's head in a car seat.

 

The reasons why the head huggers/support cushions are not recommended are because they add additional padding between your infant and the harness system . Also, in rare cases these could fall behind your infant's head causing the head to be stuck in a forward position, which could present a risk for suffocation.

 

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Additional padding between the harness and your child
such as Padded car seat bags, or bulky clothing

Your car seat harness has been designed to work wth your child and a minimial amount of clothing. This is the ideal. The reason for this is because in the event of a collission, such padding will compress leaving significant room between your harness strap and your child. Hence, your child will not be secured as tight as recommended and could lead to ejection of your child or other injuries. 

Living in the Yukon we are not able to safely maintain this ideal all year round; therefore, we need to ensure that we are coming as close to the ideal as safely possible.

• Infant carriers: you have the luxury of getting your infant into your car seat inside; thus, you can maintain the ideal the best. We recommend that you secure your child in the car seat with normal clothes on and then cover with blankets to ensure he/she stays warm on our winter days.
• Forward facing seats and booster seats: unfortunately we cannot maintain the ideal in the winter due to our temperature with these seats since they stay in our cars. Therefore we need to ensure we are doing all we can to compensate for the extra bulk. Ensure when you are securing your child into the car seat that there is minimal amounts of bulk/snowsuit/ where the harness system sits. (move wrinkles and folds so they do not sit directly under any harness straps. Also ensure that you have tightened your harness system properly. This means you need to check it every time you secure your child in their seat because it will vary depending on what clothes they are wearing, both outerwear and regular clothes.

 

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• Last Updated: 12/9/2011 |
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