The Car Seat Rules
A.R.S. 28-907 — a child restraint under five, and a booster until eight or four feet nine
In Arizona, a person may not operate a motor vehicle on the highways transporting a child under five years of age unless the child is properly secured in a child restraint system.
In a vehicle designed for ten or fewer passengers, of model year 1972 or later, the operator requires each passenger who is at least five and under eight years of age, and not more than four feet nine inches tall, to be restrained in a child restraint system.
Fifty dollars, or nothing. A violation carries a civil penalty of $50, which is not imposed if the person shows the vehicle has since been equipped with a compliant child restraint system. A receipt mailed to the court may be that showing.
- An officer who stops a vehicle for an apparent violation asks the driver the age and height of the children in it.
- If the answer shows no violation, the officer does not detain the vehicle further unless another violation is involved.
- A stop for this section is not probable cause to search the vehicle unless there is probable cause for another violation.
The section does not apply to a vehicle made without passenger restraints, a recreational vehicle, a commercial vehicle driven by a commercial license holder, or a child taken in an emergency for medical care, among other exceptions it lists. A violation is not evidence in any other proceeding.
Sources for this section (1)
- A.R.S. 28-907 — Child restraint system; civil penalty; exemptions; notice; child restraint fund; definitions
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Arizona attorney.