Booster Problems

[babychild taxi]

Hi,

There is a low income family in my church and 2 of the kids need to be in at least boosters, if not EFF (6.5 yrs and 4.5 yrs).

The problem is that their current vehicle does not have back seat shoulder belts. They currently have a high back booster and low back booster in there (which I know is a big "no, no").

So, what does one do, now that car seat manufactures do not make boosters for lap only belts. We don't have the vests here and they would be expensive for this family.

Please share your ideas/solutions-thanks in advance

-K.

[QuassEE]

This was the big problem with the Ontario booster law--lots of people have lapbelts in their cars, and no boosters to use with them. Ontario's answer? Booster seats aren't required for people with lapbelts!

I'm not sure what to suggest--my first suggestion would be to get another car. Is there any chance the church would try to get together a bit of money for this to happen? The other option, according to Transport Canada anyways, is the Cosco (Grand) Explorer:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/securiteroutiere/securitedesenfants/avis/Dser/d200403/images/p1.jpg
...they're still available, but hard to find... I'm not sure what to think--what's worse? Neither are good options, IMO. Chances are that their older child is too heavy for the Explorer, anyways.

I would certainly recommend that at least their front passenger seat have the older child in it, in a booster.. then the 4.5 year old be harnessed in the rear in a higher-weight harnessed seat--until a more permanent solution is available (new car?) Is this a possibility?

-Nicole.

[santecno]

:yeahthat:

I'm just wondering if all the old Grand Explorers aren't expired by now. Not that I would recommend using one anyways...

How much do the children weigh?

As Nicole said, a higher weight seat may work for the 4.5 yr old and maybe even the 6.5 yr old if they are tiny like my kids :) If not the 6.5 yr old goes in the front with a booster.

[QuassEE]

Cosco was still making the Grand Explorer in 2003, I believe. They were on shelves in Canada up until a year ago, last I saw. I have both a Grand Explorer and an Explorer in my garage, stored so that they'll never be used with a child.

For anyone reading this who is not a tech, and/or does not know the history on this seat, I'll add an aside: A number of children, primarily in the US because the US minimum weight was a low 30lbs for this seat (40 in Canada), were flat-out ejected from these seats in crashes. These were children who were apparently restrained per manufacturer's instructions, without error. This is why, at any weight, we don't see this seat as a good option. Nor is the adult seatbelt. It's a tough situation, but I do think I would choose a GE for a 40lb+ child OVER the adult seatbelt--hopefully it would never come down to it.

"In May, 1995, Transport Canada published a report of real world testing it had conducted which proved that small shield boosters increased the chances of ejection in rollover crashes. The purpose of the testing was to determine if the 40 lb. weight minimum in CMVSS 213 should remain at 40 pounds for boosters. They left the weight minimum alone. The report concluded that: "A child less than 39.6 lbs has a high risk of being ejected from an abdominal shield booster in a roll-over event.""
Source: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/Shield%20Booster%20Discussion.aspx

...read on from that point...

-Nicole.

[skaterbabscpst]

Except that, in the US at least, the shield could ONLY be used under 40 lbs with the GE. It was essentially a useless seat.