Parents are making five significant mistakes when using car seats and booster seats, according to a recent survey by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Maybe that’s because one in five parents don't read any instructions when installing seats.

Despite the fact that car crashes are the leading cause of death for children older than three years in the U.S. and send more than 140,000 children to the emergency room each year, new research has found that low proportions of U.S. children are using age-appropriate safety restraints and many are placed at risk by riding in the front seat.

With lots of Americans planning to hit the roads for summer vacation plans, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is reminding travelers of a serious stastic: that car crashes are the number one killer of children ages 1 to 12.

While most parents with small children use booster seats, nearly a third of them do not enforce this rule when their child is riding with another driving, such as when carpooling.