New Rule To Simplify Child-Seat Installation

Child-safety seats will be made simpler to install in cars under a new federal rule President Clinton will announce today.

In his weekly radio address, Clinton plans to say that all new passenger cars, vans and trucks will be required to have a new “universal system” for installing child-safety seats by 1999. Studies show the seats cut the risk of death or serious injury to infants in car crashes by 70 percent, and cut in half the fatality and injury rates of children age 1 to 4.

The problem is that parents don’t put children into the seats 40 percent of the time, studies show. Even when they are in the seats, 80 percent of the time they are not fully secured or the seats are improperly attached.

The Department of Transportation will issue a rule next week requiring every car safety seat to have two standard buckles at its base. Every car also would be equipped with standard latches in the back seat designed to fasten to those buckles. Similar universal attachments would be required to secure the seats at the top as well.

After a public-comment period of last 90 days, the rule will be adopted to take effect in two years.