Melanie Raposo: Hi everybody! I'm Melanie Raposo. On the Pregnancy Show today, we're going to be revealing some car seat hidden dangers and some important information that all parents should know. Now, when someone is buying a car seat what are some things that they should be looking for?

Stephen Burns: There are lots of car seats on the market. We don't recommend any car seat. There is a lot out there; something that fits their vehicle, what fits their vehicle the best, okay. This one here, see how this one here you can tighten the straps on the front. This is a very user-friendly car seat. You can also adjust the straps up and down at the back. But with this particular car seat, you have to adjust the straps at the back. So you'd tighten them here. So this makes it a little bit more difficult to tighten the straps.

Melanie Raposo: There are different care seats made specifically for your child's age and size. Constable Stephen Burns explains the difference between each.

Stephen Burns: So this is an infant and the main thing is it's up to 1 year of age for rear facing. Every car seat has on the side on it, instructions. It shows you how to put it in and here it says 5-22 pounds. You have the flexibility of tightening the little one inside. When you go to put it in the car seat, push it in and you should give it a little tug and it should stay in the base.

Sometimes pe1ople don't click and they are driving down the road, car seat comes out and that has happened, okay. This handle is a handle for carrying. If this is not tight and you don't want your child to come up and hit their head on here, so this is recommended that it goes down and it locks in place and it stays in place.

If your child goes over 29 inches but they are still under 20 pounds, and under a year, then you'd move to a seat like this, a larger seat which is called the convertible seat that we can still keep rear facing at a 45 degree angle. This seat goes up to 30 pounds. So once your child is over a year and is over 20 pounds, then we face them forward. With the same seat, forward facing with the leg, the main thing that we see is this is a tighter strap.

Somewhere in the back of your vehicle on the dash or up top or on the floor, if it's a mini van, under the seat, this prevents the forward head excursion. This has to go on. If you have the old car seat, sometimes these get removed. If this is removed, you're not conforming to the law. So you could get a ticket for not having a car seat installed properly. But what is more important than the ticket is making sure your child is properly restrained.

Melanie Raposo: Once children have outgrown their car seats they legally have to be in a Booster seat until they are 8 years of age or at least 80 pounds.

Stephen Burns: All a Booster seat does is raise the child up and the seat belt goes across and in like you as an adult would put the seat belt on.

Melanie Raposo: If you're buying a car seat in Canada, one very important thing to look for is this very special safety seal.

Stephen Burns: All car seats in Canada need to have this safety seal. It's real easy to see. It's white sticker with a red maple leaf in the middle. And it says right on it, it says CMVSS, Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standard.

Melanie Raposo: It's also crucial to send in your car seat's warranty card as soon as you purchase the car seat. That way if there ever any recalls on it, the manufacturer by law must notify you. For more information on car seat safety, watch our how to properly install a car seat and be aware of used car seats videos only the Pregnancyshow.com.