Fire District No. 3 and Safe Kids Rhode Island provided free children's car seat inspections on June 10. Dartmouth Week talked to the experts for must-know tips.

1. Keep your child rear-facing until two years old.

"It protects their head, neck, and spine better if, God forbid, you were ever in a car accident," said Senior Checker Chelsea D'Angelo.

2. Car seats expire.

"Car seats expire after six years. Some have a longer expirations, but that will be on the label," explained Instructor Brittni Henderson. She said you also want to register your car seat in case there's ever a product recall. That way, you'll know, she said.

3. Follow the weight guidelines for the car seat.

"That's pretty common, [people] jump to a booster too soon," said Henderson. She said children should continue using a car seat until they hit the maximum weight recommendation.

Henderson further explained that the safety sequence of car seats is a rear-facing car seat, a forward-facing seat with harness, a high-back booster seat, a no-back booster, and then a seatbelt.

"A child should stay in a booster until about four feet and nine inches," said Henderson. Otherwise, the seatbelt won't hit the child where it is designed to, at the shoulder and stomach, she said.

4. Contact your child passenger safety technician.

"It's easy to make a mistake," said Henderson. Questions can be directed to Safe Kids, which lists every safety technician in the country, she added. Fire departments and police also have safety technicians. Fire District No. 3, located at 140 Cross Road, has three safety technicians.