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Here's a great article I found at www.northwestnavigator.com: -- First the bad news: odds are your child’s car seat is improperly installed.  Regardless of how many harnesses, buckles, straps, and bells and whistles, it’s outfitted with, if the seat isn’t installed correctly, no amount of money is going to save your child from injury. But the bright side of this bummer news comes courtesy of Naval Station Everett’s Branch Medical Clinic (BMC). BMC’s Medical Assistant, Heather James and Hospital Corpsman Petty Officer 3rd Class, Kristine Bostwick, are teaming up to make sure the station’s kids are safely and properly buckled up. The two recently completed a thoroughly comprehensive car seat safety course in October and began, Dec. 3, offering car seat safety inspections for military ID cardholders. Also on hand to help out with the inaugural inspections were Robert Franklin, an Everett police officer and member of the Snohomish County Child Passenger Safety team, and John Cummings, a Detective for Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. Together they offered car seat inspections for concerned parents at the station’s child development center. “We have two car seat techs at the clinic right now but we’ll probably have a few more by the end of next year,” she said.  James lobbied for BMC to start a car seat safety program after noticing parents bringing infants into the clinic in improperly secured seats, she said. But Franklin says incorrect securing is very common. “Every car seat that we see is improperly installed,” he said. “It’s not the parents’ fault. It took us weeks of schooling to learn how to do it right. It’s a lot more complicated than people think it is.” “Every check is different. The contours of seats in cars are different and aren’t often designed with car seats in mind,” said Franklin. “Because of design flaws in cars, it takes some tricks of the trade, like foam rubber noodles and some other things, to get a car seat to fit properly in a car at a right angle.” “We’re making sure the seats are in tight, the belts are in good condition, and ensuring the seat itself hasn’t been recalled,” Franklin said. “We also educate parents on how the seat should be put in the car so they can do it themselves later.” “It’s our hope that everyone drives away with the feeling that their kids are safer,” James said.  Cummings agrees. “If you just talk to one parent and let them know the importance of putting their children in car seats correctly and buckled up safely, you can make a difference between life and death,” he said. Anyone wanting to make an appointment for a car seat safety check should call the BMC appointment desk at (425) 304-4162. http://www.northwestnavigator.com/index.php/navigator/regionalnews/bmc_offers_car_seat_inspections/