The present invention relates to infant car seats and, more particularly, to a latch mechanism that connects the infant car seat to a base member in either a front-facing or a rear-facing orientation.
Every state in the U.S. has laws requiring that infants and small children be seated in car seats while riding in automobiles. Although the state laws differ in details they all take into consideration grim statistics: in 2001, there were 44.642 injuries from motor vehicle accidents for children three years old and younger, and that grows to 76,248 injuries for children four to eight years of age. Although injuries from motor vehicle accidents aren't tracked as to whether or not a child was riding in a car seat, it is likely that this increase in injuries for older children was because they are less likely to be in a proper child safety seat than a younger child.
To address this problem, the industry takes steps to continually improve child restraint systems, be it an infant car seat or a booster seat for older children. Some of the car seats double in function—they can also be used as infant carriers that larches onto a base installed in a car. The assembly can use a four- or five-point harness. When used as a car seat, the carrier is locked with the base; when used as an infant carrier it is removed from the base and can be carried by the provided handle or locked with a stroller. Such seat-carrier assemblies are usually designed for infants weighing up to 20 pounds.
While the car seat/carrier system is designed for ease of operation it becomes somewhat difficult to ascertain whether the carrier has been properly latched to the base. If the carrier is not latched and locked the seat may disengage from the base and fail in its function of protecting an infant. The present invention contemplates provision of a child restraint system that warns a child caregiver that the infant seat has not been properly latched with the base.