Maryland Car Seat Laws (2023): Current Laws & Safety Resources for Parents

Maryland law requires that children under 8 years old and shorter than 4’9” travel in a secure child restraint system. For children under 2 years old, this system would the rear-facing seat. You should always keep your children in the rear-facing as long as they fall within the height and weight limit of the seat announced by the seat manufacturer. Some newer rear-facing car seats are designed to accommodate children until they are 40 pounds.

When a child exceeds the rear-facing seat’s height and weight limit, you can graduate them to forward-facing. It’s worth noting that forward-facing seat is a step back in terms of safety. 

As mentioned earlier, the law requires children under 8 years old and 4’9” travel in a secure seat. After the child has outgrown the forward-facing seat, they will travel in a booster seat. By law, a child who is four-foot, nine-inches or taller is exempt from the child safety seat requirement, however, you should keep using the booster seat until the seat belt is a secure fit.

Maryland law doesn’t stop children from traveling in the front seat. However, you can’t use the front seat with the rear-facing seat with the airbags activated. It can prove fatal for the children.

It is illegal to leave a child younger than 8 years in a vehicle unattended.

Maryland law requires you to follow the manufacturer’s instructions in case of an accident. It doesn’t have laws that would make it mandatory to replace car seat in case of an accident.