Safety seats designed to protect infants and children in a motor vehicle accident. The use of child safety seats is required by law throughout the United States, and most hospitals will not permit a parent to take a newborn baby home unless the car is equipped with a safety seat. The safety seat is designed to diffuse the forces in a crash over the child’s entire body and to keep the child from being thrown out of the car or from striking anything within the car during a crash. An infant’s chance of surviving a crash is greatly improved by the proper use of a child safety seat.