Booster seat requirements in Vermont
A car seat or booster until age 8.
Vermont 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 8
- First offense
- $25
Every figure on this page was read at 23 V.S.A. § 1258 on 4 October 2026. Read the statute
What the Vermont 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 Vermont requires |
|---|---|---|
| Rear facing | under 24 months | Until 24 months (2 years). |
| Car seat or booster | under 8 years | Until age 8. |
| Back seat | under 13 years | Required for a child under age 13. |
| Adult seat belt alone | from 8 years | Lawful from age 8. |
| Penalty | $25 | $25 for a first offense. Condition A civil penalty of $25 for a first violation, $50 for a second, and $100 for a third or later violation. Vermont is one of the few states here that fixes a first offense figure rather than a range. |
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
Vermont sets this in 23 V.S.A. § 1258. Read it at the source.
This is information, not legal advice. A city or county in Vermont 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
- 23 V.S.A. § 1258
- Source
- legislature.vermont.gov
- Jurisdiction
- Vermont (VT), 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
- 2023, No. 165 (Adj. Sess.), § 24, effective 1 July 2024, which is the amendment that rewrote this section into the present ladder of stages. The section note also carries 2023, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.), § 292, effective the same day; the history ends with the two of them.