Do I need a car seat for my kid in an Uber in San Diego?

Short version: the law does not care that it is a rideshare, and San Diego is not a city where you can order a car with a seat already in it. Plan for that before you land.

What California requires

Vehicle Code 27360 binds "a parent, legal guardian, or driver who transports a child." An Uber driver is a driver. The requirements:

There is no rideshare exemption. There is no taxi exemption either.

We read every section of the Vehicle Code article covering child restraints — 27360 through 27368. None of them exempts taxicabs, for-hire vehicles, charter-party carriers or transportation network companies. The California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates Uber and Lyft in this state, sets rules on background checks and unaccompanied minors and says nothing about car seats.

Who gets the ticket

This is the part worth knowing before you argue with a driver. Section 27360(c) says the section "does not apply to a driver if the parent or legal guardian of the child is a passenger in the motor vehicle."

So if you are in the car with your own child and the child is unrestrained, the liability is yours, not the driver's. If you put an unaccompanied child into a rideshare unrestrained, it falls on the driver. Either way the child is legally required to be restrained, and either way a driver is entitled to refuse the ride.

Uber and Lyft do not solve this here

The fine

Vehicle Code 27360.6 sets the base fine at $100 for a first conviction and $250 for a second. As with every California traffic fine, penalty assessments and court fees push the amount actually payable well above the base — we could not verify a current total and will not print one. A court may reduce or waive the fine for a defendant of limited means who attends a car seat education program.

It is also a primary offense: section 27361 lets an officer stop you on reasonable suspicion alone, rather than only after pulling you over for something else.