Booster seat requirements in Louisiana
A car seat or booster until age 9.
Louisiana sets no height or weight that ends the requirement early. Age is the only test.
- Rear facing until
- 24 months
- Back seat until
- age 13
- Seat belt alone from
- age 9
- First offense
- $100
Every figure on this page was read at La. Rev. Stat. § 32:295 on 4 October 2026. Read the statute
What the Louisiana booster seat law says
The stages below are separate rules in the statute, not one rule in steps. The back seat requirement and the restraint requirement are different obligations, and a child can be caught by both at once.
| Rule | Figure | What Louisiana requires |
|---|---|---|
| Rear facing | under 24 months | Until 24 months (2 years). |
| Car seat or booster | under 9 years | Until age 9. |
| Back seat | under 13 years | Required for a child under age 13. |
| Adult seat belt alone | from 9 years | Lawful from age 9. |
| Penalty | $100 | $100 for a first offense. Condition Under § 32:295(I)(1): one hundred dollars for a first offense, between two hundred and fifty and five hundred for a second, and five hundred plus all court costs for a third or later. But (I)(2) caps the total at one hundred dollars including fees and costs where the only fault was using the wrong size restraint on a child who was otherwise restrained. Failing to restrain a child at all is a primary offense; using the wrong size restraint is a secondary one, citable only on a stop for some other moving violation. |
Where this and size guidance disagree, follow the stricter one. A belt that crosses the neck rather than the middle of the chest is worse protection than a booster even where the statute allows it.
The statute
Louisiana sets this in La. Rev. Stat. § 32:295. Read it at the source.
This is information, not legal advice. A city or county in Louisiana can set a stricter rule than the state one, and an officer enforces the text of the statute rather than a summary of it. Where this page and the statute differ, the statute is right and this page is a bug.
Where this comes from
- Statute
- La. Rev. Stat. § 32:295
- Source
- www.legis.la.gov
- Jurisdiction
- Louisiana (LA), state law only
- Last reviewed
- 4 October 2026 0 days ago
- Read at the statute
- 4 October 2026
- Signed off by a person
- Not yet
- Amendment history
- Acts 2019, No. 51, §1