QuickTake:

Since the pandemic, agencies offering the service have become scarce. But Safe Lane Transportation Coalition, a collaboration between government and various organizations, has an inspector available.

Nikki Cain is due with her first child in December.

She’s already done a lot to get ready. She and her husband took a childbirth class at their community birth center. They’ve read books on the childbirth process, breastfeeding and everything else for “keeping the baby alive for the first several months,” Cain said.

Another one of these steps: the all-important child car seat installation.

Cain’s husband was able to install the seat, but given the straps, buckles and hooks — and how important it is for the baby’s safety — Cain wanted someone check that it was installed correctly.

She looked through the usual list of agencies that she thought would offer the service, such as the fire or police department. Neither offered the program.

​“I was surprised at how difficult it was to find someone, because it was just an assumption I had that it was something everybody did,” Cain said. “I talked to our midwife to see if she had any recommendations, and she didn’t really know who was doing it in Lane County.”

Historically, child car seat safety inspections were offered by fire departments, police stations and hospitals. Since the pandemic, however, those services have become scarce. 

In Lane County, the exception is the Safe Lane Transportation Coalition, a newly launched program that offers parents the opportunity to book appointments with a child car seat technician.

The lone inspector is Drew Pfefferle, who says he’s not surprised to hear about other inspection programs dying out. Pfefferle had to take a four-day workshop to become a certified inspector, and with budgets tight across public agencies, he can see why car seat safety isn’t a top priority. 

Drew Pfefferle adjusts a car seat base during an inspection in Eugene, Nov. 7, 2025. “If anything, some of these car seats have gotten more complicated,” he said. Credit: Isaac Wasserman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield / Catchlight / RFA

During the process of becoming certified, Pfefferle says he became experienced in the tedious art of car seat installation, and he can attest from his own experience as a parent, that it isn’t easy. 

“When my first kid came around, I was not a certified technician, and I really struggled with the convertible car seats,” Pfefferle said. “Now, since I got the training, I can easily get the different car seats installed. What used to take me 45 minutes of struggling now takes me 10 minutes.”

What’s his secret? 

“Knowing how you want to kind of leverage your body while wrestling with the car seat,” Pfefferle said. “I feel parents treat the car seat as gently as they would the child, and the trick is, you really have to get some force against the car seat.”

Car seat inspector Drew Pfefferle and mom-to-be Nikki Cain look through the manual of Cain’s new car seat in Eugene, Nov. 7, 2025. Credit: Isaac Wasserman / Lookout Eugene-Springfield / Catchlight / RFA

During Cain’s inspection, Pfefferle quickly noticed a tiny red indicator bar at the base of the seat, which would ordinarily be green if it were installed correctly. Cain’s husband did everything perfectly besides a single step and didn’t notice the bar in their dimly lit garage. Pfefferle on the other hand, caught the issue and pushed the car seat just a couple inches, turning the bar green.

You can schedule an appointment to have your seat inspected on the Safe Lane transportation coalition website.