Mississippi Laws on Car Seat Safety

Mississippi has some of the most lax laws on car-seat safety of all the states. Most of the laws are far below the recommendations set forth by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). If you are a parent in Mississippi, it is important to be aware of both the state laws and the recommended guidelines from the AAP.

  1. Rear-facing

    • The state of Mississippi has no laws about keeping an infant rear-facing in the car. The only law regarding infants and safety seats is that they must be in a car seat. Regardless of the lack of laws, an infant should never be placed in a forward-facing car seat. The head of an infant is large in proportion to her body, and her neck muscles are not developed. In a crash, a forward-facing infant's neck could snap and cause serious injury or death. Rear-facing, the infant's head and neck are cradled. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that an infant be rear facing until at least 20 pounds and the first birthday, or until the weight limit for the child's rear-facing car seat is reached. Many newer car seats allow infants to remain rear-facing until 30 to 35 pounds.

    Five Point Harness

    • The five-point harness car seat has straps that come down over the child's body and clip at the chest and between the child's legs. It is the safest way for a child to be restrained for travel in a vehicle. Children up to the age of four years old must be restrained in a five-point harness car seat, according to Mississippi law. While the law says that children only need to be in these seats until the fourth birthday, the AAP recommends keeping children in their five-point harness seats until they reach the weight or height limits. Today, companies such as Britax make five-point harness car seats with weight limits as high as 85 pounds and height limits as high as 57 inches. Even the average car seat from the local retail store has a weight limit of 50 pounds and 53 inches. This means a child can safely remain in the car seat much longer than the fourth birthday.

    Booster Seats

    • A booster seat helps adjust the lap and shoulder straps of an adult seat belt, letting it fit properly across a child's smaller body. Mississippi law requires children between the ages of 4 and 6, who are no longer using a five-point harness car seat, to sit in a booster seat. A child who reaches 65 pounds or 57 inches before the sixth birthday, however, is excused from this requirement. The AAP disagrees, saying that an adult-sized seat belt is not meant to fit anyone under 57 inches tall, so regardless of how old a child is, she should continue to use a booster seat until she reaches this height requirement. Most children do not reach this height until sometime after turning eight.

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