What are the risk factors for submarining?

katieinqc · Mar 6, 2010

Age, height, weight, and build (both torso vs legs and stocky vs skinny) are the possible factors I came up with, but not only do I not know if/how much they do, some I'm not even sure which way some would sway the risk, if that makes sense. Basically, I'm thinking if I have a Parkway SG and another booster available for 2 kids (and the fit looks good for both kids in both boosters), how would I know which kid is more likely to benefit from the SG? I think the answer is going to be "we don't know" but I'd like to hear people's thoughts even if that is the case. Thanks.

barnmama25 · Mar 6, 2010

I think that weight, bone maturity and size of the child play a big factor in submarining.
I personally feel comfortable for my 65 pound 5 year old riding in a booster, but I do not feel the same for my 3 year old 40 pounder.

joolsplus3 · Mar 6, 2010

There are only a handful of kids in boosters who suffer abdominal injuries, it's quite rare. It's kids NOT in boosters that are really at risk, and the kids who do suffer these injuries in boosters are very likely, in my opinion, to be in boosters with terrible belt geometry, like the Dorel or Evenflo combo seats that hold the belt up on the abdomen, rather than a good booster with proper belt guides that keeps the belt low on the lap.
I do not really think there's an age difference, I've never seen any evidence that littler kids suffer more abdominal injuries (*head* injuries are the big problem for kids age 2-4 in boosters...). This is the IIHS article about booster fit, it's not hard to imagine that poor girl just slipping right under that belt, while the boy seems like all would be well for him... http://www.iihs.org/research/topics/boosters/default.html