The Car Seat

If you have never had kids and wonder what all the fuss is about with car seats and strollers and gear, here is a glimpse.

This is from the Texas DPS website.

Child Passenger Safety Best Practice Recommendations
Phase 1	Rear-Facing Seats	Infants: Birth - 35 pounds. Rear-facing infant or rear-facing convertible safety seat as long as possible,up to the rear-facing height or weight limit of the seat. Properly install rear-facing in the back seat.
Phase 2	Forward-facing Seats	When children outgrow the rear-facing safety seat, they should ride in a forward-facing safety seat as long as possible, up to the upper height or weight limit (40 - 80 pounds) of the harnesses. Usually 4+ years old. Properly installed forward-facing in the back seat. NEVER turn forward-facing before 1 year old AND 20-22 pounds.
Phase 3	Booster Seats	After age 4 and 40+ pounds, children can ride in a booster seat with the adult lap and shoulder belt until the adult safety belt will fit them properly (usually when the child is 4'9" tall). MUST have a lap/shoulder belt to use a booster seat.
Phase 4	Adult Safety Belt	Once children outgrow their booster seat (usually at 4'9", 100 pounds) they can use the adult safety belt if it fits them properly. Lap portion low over the hips/tops of thighs and shoulder belt crosses the center of the shoulder and center of the chest.
We fudged a little when we bumped my son up to the booster seat.  He was 3 years and 10 months old and 39 lbs when my daughter outgrew the rear-facing infant carrier.  The booster seat costs $40 and the toddler seat cost $80+, so we bought the booster seat and my daughter got the hand-me-down.  I was going to wash it.  That was a year ago.  This post is about finally washing that seat. I haven't been counting cleaning projects in Fixit, except the couple of times I did major organization, but I think this counts. The first thing I have to do is climb on the seat while it is in the car to press down on it and remove some of the tension in the belt clipping it to the car.  I imagine this to be highly amusing to people who witness the act. I brushed out the seat.  I shook it.  I brought it inside to disassemble.  It would have been better to do this outside because crumbs got everywhere, but it is dark and the only time I have to do it. There are various elastic straps sewn into the cover to hold it in place.  I discovered that I needed to remove the base to undo a couple of these straps.  The seat is held to the base with a metal rod. I pushed it on one end with a screwdriver and pulled it out with pliers on the other. This is the base.  Yuck! Then you have to pull the straps out, after detaching them from a hook at the back. Remove all the pieces and then pull the strap through again. Then this piece comes out. The seat cover is in two pieces.  The bottom piece has to come around this back piece.  This the back piece is attached at the back and these hole clips need to be removed. This is the seat without the cover.  Yuck again!!  Here is the result after washing everything and reassembling. I washed the booster seat too, but the cover came off it easily.  Not much to talk about. The effort was precipitated by a chance to really wash and vacuum out my car.  I think I could have fed a small town with the amount of snack crumbs I cleaned out.  No cost to fix and I also have a Craigslist income of $10 from the extra (third) propane tank I finally listed. Day 76, Score: -19 (1 new fixed, 0 new broken, total fixed=57, list total 112), Funds: -$206.76