It is safest to choose a rear-facing child car seat. The child then faces the direction of travel and the risk of spinal and head injuries is lower than in a forward-facing seat. A rear-facing child car seat takes up a little more space than a forward-facing car seat, but still fits in most cars. It is recommended to use a rear-facing chair until the child is 3-4 years old. Many people choose a forward-facing seat because it is easier to put them in the car and the driver has a better relationship with the child in the back seat. Most forward-facing child car seats are easy to move between cars. Rear-facing and forward-facing child car seats can be installed in the front seat of the car. Please note that it is prohibited and can also be life-threatening to have a rear-facing child car seat in the front seat where there is an active airbag in front of the seat. Remember to deactivate the airbag if it is in front of a child car seat and in the same way to activate it again before an adult uses the seat. Side airbags are not dangerous for children who are properly fastened in child car seats. Neither children nor adults should put their head against a car door where side airbags are located.

If you are traveling alone with the child in a car, it can be an advantage to have the infant car seat in the front seat, but then there must not be an active airbag in front of the seat. Remember to stop the car if the child starts to distract you while driving. If two adults are together in a car with a child, it pays for the other person to sit in the back seat next to the child who is in an infant car seat.

ISOFIX mounts should be in all cars manufactured after 2006. However, they can be found in many older cars. The fasteners can be found at the bottom between the back and the seat or at the bottom of the back of the seat. An ISOFIX attachment ensures a safe attachment of the seat to the car, as the seat attaches to the frame of the car. There is no risk of the chair being attached incorrectly, as there is a possibility if the instructions are not followed in every respect when a chair is secured with the car's seat belt.

Always follow the instructions that come with the chair. Always check the stability of the seat when the child is secured in it, as there is always the possibility that the tension in the seat belt has been accidentally pressed.

The seat belts should fit so tightly against the child that only two or three fingers can be placed between them, and the belts must not be twisted. The belts should sit over the child's shoulder and care must be taken that the belt is in the correct hole on the back of the chair, i.e. it is not positioned too low or high.

A child must never sit in front of an active airbag unless they are 150 cm tall. Children are best protected in the back seat up to the age of 12, and it is important not to discount that and sometimes allow them to sit in the front seat.

A seat can be used from a weight of 15 kg, but it is not particularly recommended, as a seat with a back always provides better protection than a seat without a back. It is important to always place the seat belt under the loop on the seat, otherwise there is a risk that the seat may slip under the child in a collision. On some seats with backs, the height of the back can be adjusted. It is important to adjust the height of the back as the child grows, but the upper edge of the ear should not go above the back of the chair. A child should use a seat with a back at least until it has reached a height of 135 cm or 36 kg, usually around 10 to 12 years of age.

The safety of children should not be reduced even if they travel in buses or taxis. Check if the company offers safety equipment based on your child's weight and age. If so, check the age of the equipment. If there is no equipment, take your own equipment or rent a chair for the trip.

If there is a safety device in a car that gets into a severe collision, rollover or other traffic damage, it is useless. Although nothing can be seen on the equipment, there can always be damage in it that is not visible to the eye. There are no testing centers in Iceland that examine such chairs.

The lifespan of child car seats is based on the month of manufacture of the respective seat and the month and year of manufacture can be found on the seat itself. Manufacturers state the lifespan of their chairs. That time can vary depending on the manufacturer, but the most common lifespan of infant car seats is 5 years, but can be 10 years for other seats.

The designation for European standards for child car seats is ECE R44.04. The last two letters indicate that this is the latest standard published in 2006. European standards for child car seats are different than those for the US and Canadian markets. For the US market the standard is FMVSS and for the Canadian market CMVSS. The ECE standard is stricter than the FMVSS and CMVSS standards and it was prohibited to import seats that only meet the FMVSS and CMVSS standards after July 1, 2013.