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Car Seats and Passenger Safety

Over half of car seats are not installed or used correctly. Missoula Public Health is here to help make sure your little one is safe in their car seat. We can help you access a free car seat, learn how to install car seats correctly, and provide information on transitioning to a new car seat.

This program is presented by Drive Safe Missoula, an MPH coalition. Click here to learn more about our other programs!

FAQs

Montana’s new car seat law, HB 586 went into effect or started on Oct. 1, 2025. Here’s what you need to know as well as what we recommend:

The Basics

  • Children under 2 must be in a rear-facing car seat.
    • We recommend keeping them rear facing as long as possible and it’s best to keep them rear facing until they max out their seats height and weight limits.   This means a 35 pound 4 year old could still be rear facing.
  • Children aged 2 to 4 need to be in a rear-facing or forward-facing car seat with an internal harness.
    • We recommend that they max out the height and or weight limit of their forward facing seat with the harness (which is usually up to 65 lbs.). This means a 58 pound 6 year old could still be in a forward facing car seat with a harness.
  • Children aged 4 to 8 must be in a forward-facing seat or a booster seat.
    • We recommend that they remain in a booster seat until they are 4’9″ tall. For more information about when to transition out of a booster seat, please check out the “How do I know if my child is ready to transition out of a booster seat?” section above.
  • Children aged 9 and older, or those who have outgrown booster seat limits, must be secured with a properly fitted standard seat belt with the lap belt positioned low on the hips and the shoulder belt positioned across the collar bone.​
    • We recommend that children under the age of 13 remain in the back seat to keep their growing bodies away from the potentially dangerous and deadly impact of the front airbags during a crash.​

This tool from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration lets you easily search and compare car seats based on your child’s height and weight. Click here if you need help installing a car seat.

Registering your car seat with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration makes it easy to get important safety updates and to know if there’s a recall. Click here to register.

While Montana’s new car seat law requires a booster seat until age 9, we recommend keeping kids in booster seats until they are at least 4’9″ AND can pass this 5-step test:

  1. Does their back sit flat against the vehicle seat?
  2. Do their knees bend naturally at the edge of the seat?
  3. Does the lap belt sit low on the hips/tops of the thighs?
  4. Does the shoulder belt cross the center of the shoulder and chest?
  5. Can they remain seated like this for the entire trip?

If the answer to any of these is “no,” they should remain in a booster seat to provide the safety benefits their growing bodies need.

Were you recently in a car crash? Car seats that have been involved in a moderate to severe crash should not be used. You may be able to continue using car seats if the crash was minor. Click here to learn more about what counts as a minor crash.

Using a car seat that has been in a moderate to severe crash is dangerous. Used car seats can be risky to use, especially if you don’t know the crash history. Damage to the car seat may not be visible or obvious.