One acronym that is being floated around the internet car seat community quite a bit these days is “LATCH.”  LATCH stands for “Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children,” referring to a system that was developed to dramatically improve the safety features of car seats.  This system was developed in response to a huge need for ease of installation in newer car seats. As of 2003, the LATCH system became a standard addition to vehicles.  What this means is that you can now find a “lower tether anchor” on two points between the back and lower cushions of the seats in your car.  These anchors will attach firmly to LATCH-compatible car seats.

here’s a bit more explanation, courtesy of Expert Village:

So what are the benefits of the LATCH system?  They are two-fold:

Ease of Installation

The LATCH system removes the need for using the seatbelt in the installation of a car seat.  Before LATCH, the most common installation method was to run the seat belt through a narrow hole on the back of the seat.  If you’ve never dealt with this first-hand, I’m sure you can still imagine the absolute pain this is to install, especially if you’re in a hurry to get somewhere and you need to bring your infant with you.  The new method of installation is simply to latch two anchor points from your car seat onto the hooks that are not coming standard in vehicles.  Generally, this simply requires pushing two pieces of metal together until you hear a “click.”

Increased Child Safety

Although convenience and ease of use are the main points behind the LATCH system, these aren’t the only considerations when a new system like this is adopted.  One huge problem with the old system that use seatbelts was that it was possible for the child to reach over and unclasp the belt.  Of course, this compromises the safety of the entire car seat and makes it very dangerous to drive with a child.  The anchor hooks used in the latch system do away with this danger for good:  The anchor points are impossible for a child to compromise in any way provided they are correctly installed and used.  So even though convenience is the main goal of LATCH, it’s hard to argue with the fact that a car seat that is easier to install means there are fewer ways to make a mistake in using it; this applies to any kind of childcare product whether we are talking about baby walkers or car seats!  Fewer possibilities for misuse definitely equate to more safety and peace of mind, and even cheap car seats will have adopted this system so the price doesn’t increase.  Definitely great news for those of us wanting to stretch our dollar a little further!