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Child Safety Seat Requirements

Child Passenger Restraint Law
(MN Stat 169.685)

• Children under four must be secured in a safety seat that meets federal safety standards
• Safety seats must be installed and used according to the manufacturer's instructions
  
• Child must be secured in the safety seat
  
• Seat must be secured to the vehicle
  
• Infants (under 20 pounds and one year of age) must be in a rear-facing safety seat
  
• Law applies to all motor vehicles originally equipped with factory-installed seat belts
  
• Law applies to all seating positions
  
• Driver is responsible
  
• Petty misdemeanor fine for violation is $50 (may be waived if violator shows proof of obtaining a safety seat within 14 days)
  
• Applies to both residents and non-residents of Minnesota
  
• Suspected non-use is a valid basis to stop a motor vehicle
  

Exceptions:

• Children riding in emergency medical vehicles, when medical needs make use of a restraint unreasonable
• Children riding in a motor vehicle for hire, including a taxi, airport limousine or bus, but excluding a rented, leased or borrowed motor vehicle
• Children riding with a peace officer on official duty, when a restraint is not available (a seat belt must be substituted)
• Children certified by a licensed physician as having a medical, physical or mental disability that makes restraint use inadvisable
• Passengers in school buses

This law is a minimum safety standard and does not reflect best practices for properly securing children within vehicles.

• For children under 80 pounds to properly be secured in a vehicle, they should sit in an appropriate child safety seat (or booster seat). According to the NHTSA In addition, children under the age of 13 should sit in the rear of a vehicle.
• Belt-positioning booster seats raise a child so that the shoulder belt fits securely between the neck and arm and the lap belt lies low and flat across the upper thighs. Children do not fit in adult lap/shoulder belts without a booster seat until they are 58 inches tall and weigh 80 lbs (3,6). Children should ride in a booster seat from the time they graduate from their forward-facing CSS until approximately age 8 years or until they are tall enough for the knees to bend over the edge of the seat when the child's back is resting firmly against the seat back.

Form to register your seat with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to notify you of a safety recall

Fines collected from violations of this law go into a special account dedicated to purchasing child safety seats for lower income families. Violations of this law are recorded onto a violator's driving record. This is only a guide provided by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and should not be construed as legal advice. For more detailed information regarding child passenger safety in general, please visit the "CPS Program" web site. For more information on child passenger safety, contact the Office of Traffic Safety.

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