Sponsors (3)
The bill funds a targeted public education campaign that can reduce use of counterfeit or noncompliant child restraints and improve consumer compliance, but it relies on outreach rather than providing replacement seats and introduces potential cost and implementation uncertainty for states and taxpayers.
Parents and caregivers (and thus children) will be better able to identify and avoid counterfeit or noncompliant car seats and booster seats, reducing the risk of injury in crashes.
The bill provides $1.5 million in dedicated federal funding to run and sustain an outreach and public education campaign on child restraint safety until those funds are expended.
Improved public awareness may lower demand for illicit or unsafe child restraint products and support compliance with federal safety standards, protecting consumers.
Low-income and other high-risk families may remain unable to obtain compliant replacement seats because the campaign is educational only and does not provide subsidies or replacement seats, limiting real-world safety gains for those most vulnerable.
If outreach is limited or insufficiently targeted, the campaign may fail to reach rural and other high-risk communities, reducing its effectiveness at preventing injuries.
Language inserted into state highway safety program provisions creates uncertainty for state governments and stakeholders, making it difficult to assess what new obligations, deadlines, or costs (if any) will apply.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires DOT to run an education campaign on counterfeit/noncompliant child restraints and authorizes $1.5M to carry it out.
Requires the Department of Transportation to run a national education campaign on counterfeit or noncompliant child restraint systems (car seats and booster seats), including how to identify and avoid them, and authorizes $1.5 million for that work. Also proposes an amendment to the federal highway safety statute (23 U.S.C. §402) but the specific text to be inserted is not provided in the excerpt.
Official title: To amend title 23, United States Code, to include public information and education activities as authorized programming under highway safety programs and to require the Secretary of Transportation to carry out an education campaign on the dangers associated with noncompliant or counterfeit child restraint systems, including car seats and booster seats, and methods for identifying and avoiding such systems, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 25, 2026 by Laura Gillen · Last progress February 25, 2026