Editor's Note: This article corrects an earlier version.

Ledyard — When Esther Pendola led a car seat safety program for the Safe Kids New London County Coalition at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital three years ago, more than 90 percent of the parents had the seatsinstalled incorrectly.

Sunday was the first time the group had offered a car seat inspection program since Safe Kids lost its funding at L+M in 2013 and became a nonprofit organization called The Safety Group of Connecticut.

The Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut took over the car seat program, and handed it back to The Safety Group Sunday.

The need for education is still just as urgent, Pendola said.

“It’s really important that this topic remains bubbled to the surface,” she said Sunday in the parking lot of the Gales Ferry firehouse, where parents were pulling up in cars of all shapes and sizes.

Volunteers taught parents how to adjust straps, gave them advice on when to switch to booster seats and told them whether their seats have expired or been recalled.

Gina and Patrick Morris drove their two cars from Niantic to Gales Ferry to install a new, convertible car seat for their 1-year-old daughter, Madeleine, in one car and to adjust the seat in the other.

The volunteers gave the Morrises a tip about using pool noodles to keep the seat at the right angle.

“It’s always good to have a professional check it out, just to make sure,” Patrick Morris said. “It gives you a peace of mind.”

Because car seats eventually expire, and each model has its own instructions, the subject can cause confusion for new parents, or even ones who have been driving their children around for years.

Pendola, a social worker, said only breastfeeding is a more befuddling parenting issue for her clients.

At Safe Kids, she saw parents drive up with babies tucked onto the dashboard or secured in the back with just a seat belt. The average car seat costs $50, an insurmountable cost for some families.

“It comes down to, what is it like to be a mom who can’t keep their kids safe?” said Rick Calvert the CEO of the Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut.

The certified car seat inspectors at Sunday’s Safety Group event were all volunteers, including several local firefighters. Pendola said the program attracted emergency responders because they often see the effect a badly-fitting car seat can have in a crash.

“Newton’s Law doesn’t stop because it’s a kid,” she said. “Unfortunately, to crash dynamics it doesn’t matter.”

On the other side of the fire station, Carol Schneider of Waterford was learning how to install the car seat that will soon hold her first child, who is due in April.

“I had no idea that the back straps had to be tightened,” she said.

She said the presentation was informative, even though Schneider and her husband had already researched extensively which car seat to buy.

“Something that looks so simple is actually not,” she said.

Pendola said she hopes that The Safety Group can expand to offer some of the programs it ran at L+M, such as animal bite prevention and concussion awareness classes.

For now, she’s happy to be helping parents get their kids into safe car seats again.

“It’s been really nice to start doing this again,” she said.

For more information or to schedule an inspection call 860-437-SAFE or visit thesafetygrp.com

m.shanahan@theday.com