Installing a car seat can be quite complicated, but proper installation could mean the difference between life and death if you and your child are in a car crash.

“Four out of five car seats are installed incorrectly so our program focuses on trying to get that awareness out there to these families and educate them on properly installing their car seats,” says Brenda Hernandez, a car seat technician with the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collier County. That program is provided in conjunction with The Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida and SafeKids Worldwide.

Thanks to their support the child advocacy centers of Lee and Collier counties are able to do free car seat installations for all families. “We don’t install them ourselves, we actually, we show them how do to do it and we demonstrate it and then we go ahead and have the parent show us how to actually install it and we check it to make sure it’s correctly installed.”

Brenda adds that many Southwest Florida families are grateful to have this kind of service available to them for free. “A lot of families are surprised that they thought that the car seat was actually installed incorrectly or they come to us and say you know I just can’t get this car seat fitted correctly I mean I turn and the car seat moves. So they are excited about having this service.” And Brenda says she is also happy to help. “When I see that they are leaving safely I say thank God you know that they are in a car seat and that they are safer than when they came in.”

To learn about how you can schedule a car seat safety check you can call (239)-565-8731.