Car Seat Safety Update October 1, 2008
Posted by momof4sweets in Uncategorized.trackback
Those of you who have read my old blog may remember my post about car seat safety and the importance in keeping you kids rear-facing as long as possible, and then in a 5 point harness for as long as possible after that! If you missed that post, it can be found here :
http://marlasjourney.blogspot.com/2008/04/car-seats-and-my-new-mission.html
From one of my message boards today, I found out about this article:
“WASHINGTON (AP) – Several car booster seats do a poor job of positioning children to fit in their seat belts, according to a review by the insurance industry and researchers.
The Virginia-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute found Wednesday that 13 booster seats don’t put children in the best position to be protected in a crash.
The Institute, which conducts crash tests of new vehicles, did not recommend: Compass B505, Compass B510, Cosco/Dorel Traveler, Evenflo Big Kid Confidence, Safety Angel Ride Ryte, Cosco/Dorel Alpha Omega, Cosco/Dorel (Eddie Bauer) Summit, Cosco Highback Booster, Dorel/Safety 1st (Eddie Bauer) Prospect, Evenflo Chase Comfort Touch, Evenflo Generations, Graco CarGo Zephyr, and Safety 1st/Dorel Intera.
IIHS President Adrian Lund said the 13 boosters “may increase restraint use by making children more comfortable, but they don’t position belts for optimal protection.”
Booster seats are typically used by children between the ages of 4 and 8. The seat belt is meant to be routed across a child’s lower hips and mid-shoulders instead of the abdomen because the liver and spleen are more vulnerable to injuries.
The IIHS called 10 seats “best bets,” meaning they were most likely to correctly position seat belts. They include: Combi Kobuk, Fisher-Price Safe Voyage (with plastic clip), Graco TurboBooster, Britax Monarch, Britax Parkway, Fisher-Price Safe Voyage (highback), LaRoche Bros. Teddy Bear, Recaro Young Style, Volvo booster cushion and Safeguard Go when it’s used as a backless booster.
Five seats were named “good bets” to provide acceptable belt fit. They include: highbacks Combi Kobuk, Graco TurboBooster and Safety Angel Ride Ryte, and combinations Recaro Young Sport and Safety 1st/Dorel Apex 65, when used as highbacks.
Arbogast suggested that parents buying a new booster seat should try it out in their car and see how the seat belt fits on their child.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issues ratings for child seats on its Web site: http://www.safercar.gov.”
The entire article can be read here :
http://www.wxyz.com/news/story.aspx?content_id=ede4205f-abd1-4e7c-85e5-e8461fc52dc2
As I have said before : PLEASE keep your kids REAR-FACING as long as possible. After that, keep them in a 5 POINT harness as long as possible. There are affordable 5 point seats that go to 65 pounds and a bit more spendy ones that go to 80. PLEASE take car-seat safety seriously and KEEP them as buckled as you can for as long as you can!
Great job getting the word out there! I also wanted to point out the the biggest takeaway from these articles should not be that specific boosters are categorically bad (except the 3-n-1s, which I’ve never seen fit a child well) but rather this: “parents buying a new booster seat should try it out in their car and see how the seat belt fits on their child.”
BookMama, CPST