Seats and Restraints 2-45Infants and YoungChildrenEveryone in a vehicle needsprotection! This includes infants andall other children. Neither thedistance traveled nor the age andsize of the traveler changes theneed, for everyone, to use safetyrestraints. In fact, the law in everystate in the United States and inevery Canadian province sayschildren up to some age must berestrained while in a vehicle.{ WARNINGChildren can be seriously injuredor strangled if a shoulder belt iswrapped around their neck andthe safety belt continues totighten. Never leave childrenunattended in a vehicle and neverallow children to play with thesafety belts.Airbags plus lap-shoulder belts offerprotection for adults and olderchildren, but not for young childrenand infants. Neither the vehicle'ssafety belt system nor its airbagsystem is designed for them. Everytime infants and young children ridein vehicles, they should have theprotection provided by appropriatechild restraints.Children who are not restrainedproperly can strike other people,or can be thrown out of the vehicle.{ WARNINGNever do this.Never hold an infant or a childwhile riding in a vehicle. Due tocrash forces, an infant or a childwill become so heavy it is notpossible to hold it during a crash.(Continued)WARNING (Continued)For example, in a crash at only40 km/h (25 mph), a 5.5 kg (12 lb)infant will suddenly become a110 kg (240 lb) force on a person'sarms. An infant should besecured in an appropriaterestraint.