Curious about shoulder strength & boosters

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Does anyone think there's a good argument for keeping kids harnessed longer due to the fact that they have such narrow little shoulders?
If you watch the OEAMTC crashtest footage (I could post that, but it's all trapped in the realplayer on my computer, and I don't know how to share it), that dummy flies forward from all those boosters...the seatbelt rides right off the shoulder and down the arm (I don't know what size that dummy is... 33? 47? Does ECE use the same weight dummies we do? Did OEAMTC? I don't read German well enough).

Anyway, my point is, I was just noticing how well the shoulderbelt seems to work on me as an adult with broad, strong shoulders, and then how it works ok on my 6 year old, and how my 4 year old's narrow little shoulder seemed like it just wouldn't be enough skeleton to keep her protected in a crash, and wouldn't she, and all kids up to at least 5 or 6, be better off with a 5-pt harness? Could that be one of the helpful pieces of information that we techs and advocates give to people to help them understand the importance of keeping kids harnessed as long as possible?
Often we get asked if it's really a safety reason to keep kids harnessed to age 4, even if they hit forty pounds at a younger age, and unfortunately there seem to be no data to back up the 40 pounds and at least age 4 recommendation.

(and, side note, I didn't post this in the tech section, because I wanted the research and opinions of others who might run across this question...like, say, anyone in the medical field who has experience with skeletal development...that sort of thing)
 
ADS

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
Yes, yes, yes. Not to mention that even mature kids (and adults) will circumvent a shoulder belt from time to time when they are moving around, and that is much harder to do on a 5-point.
 

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