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Mississippi car seat laws

Miss. Code Ann. § 63-7-301 · Last checked September 23, 2026

Car seat stages

The statute text comes first. Numbers are a summary for comparison, not a replacement for the law.

Rear-facing seat

Statute text

Not addressed in statute.

Not set in § 63-7-301; subsection (1)(a) requires a child passenger restraint device or system for a child under four without naming a rear-facing or harness seat.

What the law sets

Rear-facing seat required by law
Not addressed in statute

Not set in § 63-7-301; subsection (1)(a) requires a child passenger restraint device or system for a child under four without naming a rear-facing or harness seat.

Rear-facing until age
Not addressed in statute

Not set in § 63-7-301.

Rear-facing until weight
Not addressed in statute

Not set in § 63-7-301.

Rear-facing until height
Not addressed in statute

Not set in § 63-7-301.

Leaving rear-facing
Not addressed in statute

Not set in § 63-7-301.

Recommended (not law)

NHTSA

Children under age 1 should always ride in a rear-facing car seat. Keep your child rear-facing as long as possible — it's the best way to keep them safe — until they reach the top height or weight limit allowed by the car seat's manufacturer.

NHTSA – Car Seats and Booster Seats

AAP

All infants should ride rear-facing, starting with their first ride home from the hospital, and should continue riding rear-facing as long as possible until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by their car safety seat's manufacturer.

HealthyChildren.org (AAP) – Car Safety Seats: Information for Families

Forward-facing harness seat

Statute text

Not addressed in statute.

Not set in § 63-7-301; subsection (1)(a) requires a child passenger restraint device or system for a child under four without naming a rear-facing or harness seat.

What the law sets

Forward-facing harness required by law
Not addressed in statute

Not set in § 63-7-301; subsection (1)(a) requires a child passenger restraint device or system for a child under four without naming a rear-facing or harness seat.

Harness until age
Not addressed in statute

Not set in § 63-7-301.

Harness until weight
Not addressed in statute

Not set in § 63-7-301.

Harness until height
Not addressed in statute

Not set in § 63-7-301.

Leaving the harness
Not addressed in statute

Not set in § 63-7-301.

Recommended (not law)

NHTSA

Once a child outgrows the rear-facing car seat, they are ready for a forward-facing car seat with a harness and tether. Keep the child in the forward-facing seat until they reach the top height or weight limit allowed by the car seat's manufacturer, then move to a booster seat, still in the back seat.

NHTSA – Car Seats and Booster Seats

AAP

Children should use a forward-facing car seat with a harness after outgrowing the rear-facing weight or height limit. It is best for children to ride in a seat with a harness as long as possible, at least to 4 years of age.

HealthyChildren.org (AAP) – Car Safety Seats: Information for Families

Booster seat

Statute text

Every person transporting a child in a passenger motor vehicle operated on a public roadway, street or highway within this state, shall provide for the protection of the child by properly using a belt positioning booster seat system meeting applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards if the child is at least four (4) years of age, but less than seven (7) years of age and measures less than four (4) feet nine (9) inches in height or weighs less than sixty-five (65) pounds.

§ 63-7-301(1)(b). The official code is published only through LexisNexis (linked from the Secretary of State); the text was cross-read on two independent copies.

What the law sets

Booster required by law
Yes
Booster until age
7 years
Booster until weight
65 lb
Booster until height
57 in (4 ft 9 in)
Leaving the booster
A combination of conditions (see statute text)

A child aged four to six must use a booster if under 4 feet 9 inches OR under 65 pounds, so leaving early needs both limits; at seven the requirement ends.

Leaving the booster — conditions
age>=7yr OR (height>=57in AND weight>=65lb)

Recommended (not law)

NHTSA

Keep your child in a booster seat until they are big enough to fit in a seat belt properly — the lap belt lying snugly across the upper thighs (not the stomach) and the shoulder belt snug across the shoulder and chest (not the neck or face).

NHTSA – Car Seats and Booster Seats

AAP

All children whose weight or height exceeds the forward-facing limit for their car safety seat should use a belt-positioning booster seat until the vehicle seat belt fits properly, typically when they have reached 4 feet 9 inches in height and are 8 to 12 years of age.

HealthyChildren.org (AAP) – Car Safety Seats: Information for Families

Seat belt

Statute text

When a passenger motor vehicle is operated in forward motion on a public road, street or highway within this state, every operator and every passenger shall wear a properly fastened safety seat belt system, required to be installed in the vehicle when manufactured pursuant to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208.

§ 63-2-1(1); under § 63-2-1(3)(e) the belt rule does not apply to a child who must use a restraint or booster under § 63-7-301.

What the law sets

Seat belt alone from age
7 years
Seat belt alone from height
57 in (4 ft 9 in)

Only together with 65 pounds, for a child of at least four.

Moving to the seat belt
A combination of conditions (see statute text)

The belt alone is allowed at seven, or from age four once the child is at least 4 feet 9 inches AND 65 pounds.

Moving to the seat belt — conditions
age>=7yr OR (age>=4yr AND height>=57in AND weight>=65lb)

Recommended (not law)

NHTSA

Once a child is big enough to fit in a seat belt properly, they can ride with just the lap-and-shoulder belt, but should still ride in the back seat — NHTSA recommends keeping children in the back seat at least through age 12.

NHTSA – Car Seats and Booster Seats

AAP

Children should transition to the vehicle seat belt once it fits properly, typically at about 4 feet 9 inches in height and 8 to 12 years of age; all children younger than 13 years should ride in the back seat.

HealthyChildren.org (AAP) – Car Safety Seats: Information for Families

Front seat

Many states have no front-seat age in statute. Where that is the case, we say so and cite the section we read.

Front seat — statute text
Not addressed in statute

No front-seat provision in § 63-7-301.

Minimum age for the front seat
Not addressed in statute

No front-seat provision in § 63-7-301.

Conditions
Not addressed in statute

No front-seat provision in § 63-7-301.

Penalties

What a car seat ticket costs, and whether showing proof of a proper seat can cancel it.

First offense — fine
Up to $25

§ 63-7-309: fined not more than $25 for each offense.

Repeat offense — fine
Up to $25

§ 63-7-309 sets one cap of $25 for each offense; there is no separate repeat penalty.

License points
None

Not set in §§ 63-7-301 to 63-7-311. Mississippi has no license point system: the Department of Public Safety Driver Service Bureau sanctions a driving record by cause — DUI, failure to appear or pay, judgments, uninsured crashes, child support — with no point-accumulation category in its reinstatement schedule, and § 63-1-51 revokes a license only on a certified abstract of conviction for the offenses it lists.

Fine waiver
Not addressed in statute

No waiver or dismissal on proof of a seat in §§ 63-7-301 to 63-7-311.

Exemptions

Exempt means the statute excludes it. Silent means the statute does not address it.

Taxis
Not addressed in statute

§ 63-7-301 does not address taxis.

Rideshare (Uber, Lyft)
Not addressed in statute

§ 63-7-301 does not address transportation network companies.

Buses
Exempt

§ 63-7-301(2) excludes the vehicles listed in § 63-2-1(3), which include buses; § 63-2-1(2) also limits "passenger motor vehicle" to 15 or fewer passengers.

Medical exemption
Not addressed in statute

§ 63-7-301(2) excludes only the vehicles in § 63-2-1(3); the physician-statement exemption in § 63-2-1(3)(b) is for a person, not a vehicle, and § 63-7-301 has no medical exemption of its own.

Out-of-state vehicles
Not addressed in statute

§ 63-7-301 does not address nonresident drivers or out-of-state vehicles.

How Mississippi compares

Mississippi is not ranked on booster age because its law combines several conditions that a single age cannot represent.

Compared with Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee, Mississippi differs on: rear-facing rules (from Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee), booster rules (from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee), and front-seat rules (from Louisiana).

Law compared with the AAP recommendation

  • Mississippi law does not address this stage. AAP recommends: All infants should ride rear-facing, starting with their first ride home from the hospital, and should continue riding rear-facing as long as possible until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by their car safety seat's manufacturer.
  • Mississippi law does not address this stage. AAP recommends: Children should use a forward-facing car seat with a harness after outgrowing the rear-facing weight or height limit. It is best for children to ride in a seat with a harness as long as possible, at least to 4 years of age.
  • Mississippi law: a booster seat is required until this condition is met: age ≥ 7 yr or (height ≥ 57 in and weight ≥ 65 lb). AAP recommends: All children whose weight or height exceeds the forward-facing limit for their car safety seat should use a belt-positioning booster seat until the vehicle seat belt fits properly, typically when they have reached 4 feet 9 inches in height and are 8 to 12 years of age.
  • Mississippi law: a child may use the seat belt alone once this condition is met: age ≥ 7 yr or (age ≥ 4 yr and height ≥ 57 in and weight ≥ 65 lb). AAP recommends: Children should transition to the vehicle seat belt once it fits properly, typically at about 4 feet 9 inches in height and 8 to 12 years of age; all children younger than 13 years should ride in the back seat.

See every state side by side on the comparison pages.

Guides covering Mississippi

Sources

State law comes from the statute or state agency below. Recommendations come from NHTSA and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The responsible agency is Mississippi State Department of Health.

State law

Recommendations

Disclaimer

This page summarizes Mississippi law for reference. It is not legal or medical advice. The statute text is the law; the numbers are our summary of it. Legal minimums are not safety recommendations: NHTSA and the AAP recommend keeping a child in each stage for as long as the seat allows. Check the statute or Mississippi State Department of Health before relying on anything here.