News New Q&A: Child safety

Admin · May 17, 2010

Where's the safest place for a child in a car? What kind of seat? How to use it? These and more questions answered.

Q&A: Child passenger safety

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MomToEliEm · May 17, 2010

I noticed that it had this portion in the Q&A

My vehicle has lap belts but not shoulder belts in the rear seats. Should I use a belt positioning booster seat for my booster-age child?

Yes. Research by the Institute and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia suggests lower injury risk among children restrained in belt-positioning booster seats with lap belts compared with children restrained in lap belts alone.7 The safest way for children to travel is in a booster seat restrained with a lap belt and a shoulder belt. However, faced with the need to restrain a booster-age child in a lap belt-only seating position, real-world crash data from two large crash surveillance systems suggest that it is safest to place the child in a booster secured with the lap belt rather than using the lap belt alone.

Is this the new recommendations that techs should use when dealing with a lapbelt only situation with a booster user even though it goes against manufacturer instructions? In the past, I thought there was something about increased injury from being raised up but maybe the new studies show that there is still a benefit.

SafeDad · May 17, 2010

No, but perhaps this research will eventually result in new guidelines and revisions to owner's manuals.

crunchierthanthou · May 17, 2010

not bad.

I'm not sure on the lapbelt/booster recommendations. Like MomToEliEm, I've seen info both ways. I'm not sure I can suggest it to parents as long as all the seat manufacturers prohibit it.

Also, check out number 11 (harness heights). the info is correct, but nice aftermarket liner on that infant seat.

mommyfrog · Jun 2, 2010

I always wondered about the booster seats and lap only belts. It seems like at least the lap belt could be down on the hip bones and not up on the belly.

Pixels · Jun 2, 2010

MomToEliEm said:
I noticed that it had this portion in the Q&A

Is this the new recommendations that techs should use when dealing with a lapbelt only situation with a booster user even though it goes against manufacturer instructions? In the past, I thought there was something about increased injury from being raised up but maybe the new studies show that there is still a benefit.

They showed side-by-side crash test simulations in my CPST class. One was lap-only belt, no booster. The other was the exact same scenario, but with booster. The one with the booster actually hit its head on the bottom of the seat. Head flew forward, and down, and down, between knees, kept on going. Much, much more head movement than the boosterless. Boosterless, the head flew forward and a bit down, but not below the level of the knees. Interestingly, they were CHOP videos, and the Q&A is claiming that CHOP says to use the booster.

I think the Q&A should at least present both sides, and let the parents make the choice, since there really is no clear-cut answer. The current recommendation in the Q&A is to do something illegal.

ketchupqueen · Jun 2, 2010

In my state, for a child under 6 or 60 and covered by the law, it would be illegal to use a booster wtih a lap-only belt, because we're a proper use state. The only legal place to put a kid in a BPB in a car with lap-only belts in the back would be in the front seat (or get a seat with a harness to use in the back.) It's actually one of the exemptions for the rear-seat law.

Carrie_R · Jun 2, 2010

Pixels said:
Interestingly, they were CHOP videos, and the Q&A is claiming that CHOP says to use the booster.

I think the answer to this is simply timing. Those CHOP videos are from the curriculum, written in 2007. The new CHOP study that this Q&A is referencing was posted last summer, I believe. (It's been since I was here, so in the last year.) Christinaka posted it, IIRC.

My train of thought has been much like Mommyfrog's, but you make a good point about increased head excursion, Melissa. Ugh. I'm so glad lap-only belts can be avoided in most situations with HWH, or at worst an 86Y. Not that they always are avoided; I'm even gladder lap-shoulder are now mandated.

heyheykk13 · Jun 2, 2010

crunchierthanthou said:
Also, check out number 11 (harness heights). the info is correct, but nice aftermarket liner on that infant seat.

I also like the harnessed booster in the infant section

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