It was a chilly December afternoon and Araceli Flores wanted to go shopping.

With only a week until Christmas, she urged her husband, Jesus Flores, her two sons, Jesus Jr., 6, and Brian, 5, and her 10-month-old Emily, into their 2005 Chevrolet Uplander, fastened the kids into their car seats, and set out for the Waterfront.

They didn't make it.

Their van was smashed into head-on by a 1991 Chrysler LeBaron fleeing from police. The new van was totaled and a passenger in the other car was killed. But, the Flores family, for the most part, was OK.

Every day, they thank God for the car seats.

Today is the final day of Child Passenger Safety Week, held to promote the correct usage of car seats. The sponsor is Safe Kids Worldwide, an organization that seeks to prevent accidental injuries to children.

The Floreses came to Pittsburgh from Mexico and said that car safety wasn't something emphasized in their country. However, when a local doctor organized car seat checks in Oakland, where the Floreses reside, they took advantage.

Dr. Diego Chaves-Gnecco, of Children's Hospital, has educated the city's Hispanic community about vehicular safety since 2003.

Originally from Colombia, Dr. Chaves-Gnecco started an organization called Salud (Students, Residents And Latinos United Against Health Disparities) Para Ninos, which means "health for the children" in Spanish. In 2002, he began to provide bilingual clinics on Tuesdays for insured children and free clinics one Saturday each month.

He later shifted his attention to car safety. About half the people admitted to Children's Hospital's emergency room from motor vehicle accidents were unrestrained in 2004, according to the hospital's trauma registry.

He said Hispanic countries don't have seat belt and car seat laws and natives of those countries are thus less likely to use them.

Dr. Chaves-Gnecco teamed up with Team Educators for Child Safety and the American Academy of Pediatrics and hosted the first Hispanic car seat check in the summer of 2003 at the Oakland Family Care Connection.

"We have people bring in their car, their car seat and their kid," Dr. Chaves-Gnecco said.

Car seats are tricky because all three have to match perfectly, he said.

He's held a seat check every summer since, and this summer added one in Washington, Pa.

Before Emily was born, Mr. and Mrs. Flores took the kids to a seat check and brought along a seat they had bought for the baby, just to make sure it would fit.

It didn't. But they were given a new one for free.

"Before, in Pittsburgh, nobody helped the Latino people," Mrs. Flores said.

While the family was rattled from the accident, two months later, Jesus is smiling, and pointing out his birthday on the calendar. Brian speaks excitedly in Spanish and then runs into the kitchen to make a ruckus with his brother.

Mrs. Flores' leg still aches and Mr. Flores is worried about dealing with the insurance company and not being able to communicate easily with his English-speaking attorney.

However, they are thankful that no one in the family was seriously injured or killed. "We could have died," Mrs. Flores said.