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This week was National Child Passenger Safety Week and Safe Kids Worldwide conducted a study that showed that nine out of ten parents take their kids out of booster seats too soon. The report is titled Buckle Up: Booster Seats and was based on an online survey of 1,000 parents of children aged 4 to 10.
Children should not be moved from a booster seat to a regular seat belt until they reach 57 inches in height, at minimum (4 feet, 9 inches). Before that point, the seatbelt can cause serious injury (or worse) in an accident and air bags may deploy at the wrong height and angle to be of help while in some cases they could also cause injury.
Speaking of airbags, if the child weighs less than 80 pounds, it's likely that the airbag deployment sensors will not deploy the airbag in the front passenger's seat of the car. A child of 4-feet, 9-inches height should also weigh 80 or more pounds in order to use the front seat of the car.
“Car seats, booster seats and seat belts are engineered to offer more protection than ever,” said Kate Carr, president and CEO of Safe Kids Worldwide.
The report was funded in part by a $2 million grant from the General Motors Foundation.
“We’re committed to our partnership with Safe Kids and the work we do to improve child passenger safety,” said Jeffrey Boyer, General Motors vice president for Safety and GM Foundation board member.
The report can be found at this link and more information on booster seats and child safety seats can be found at the SafeKids.org website.
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Comments
I know they smell like sour
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I know they smell like sour milk and make my hands sticky when I move them from car to car.
How many of us used to ride
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How many of us used to ride in cars that didn't even HAVE seat belts when we were kids? Or in the open beds of pick-ups? Remember riding facing backwards in the old station wagons?
Were we bad, evil, or just wrong for doing so? No, it's just that we knew that there are risks involved simply in getting out of bed in the morning. And no matter HOW much safety gear they try to mandate, they'll never totally eliminate all risk. (Even if they eliminate the driver with Google cars - there's still the possibility of mechanical breakdown. When does it no longer become cost effective?)
I know someone who is 19
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I know someone who is 19 years old but 4'0.8" tall and weighs 68 lbs. Is she required to use the booster seat?
Technically, yes, but I doubt
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In reply to I know someone who is 19 by Jason (not verified)
Technically, yes, but I doubt anyone would enforce that. Your friend takes a risk of serious injury should she just wear a seatbelt with no booster. It's a matter of physics.