Booster safety in side impacts and rollovers

I'm on another forum where someone mentioned re-harnessing a boostered child. The child is 5 and 40-lbs so on the young side but she said he stayed in position. People were getting pretty adamant about 5-point harnesses being safer. I ended up saying "There is actually no data suggesting that if a child stays in position and is of proper weight (about 40 lbs) that they are safer in a five point harness than a booster. But they must stay in position the whole trip, even while sleeping."

I was countered with someone saying they read that harnessing was safer for side impacts and roll overs. Is there any truth to this?

I mentioned that there are no side impact testing or roll over standards in the US. Is there anything else I can share about this?

This is kind of a nice discussion as everyone really has their children's safety primarily in mind. It's not like If I don't convince anyone there child will be less sife.

I was thinking about this just the other day because an accident happened right in front of me (this was last year). I was sitting at a red light at a busy intersection when WHAM...a car got t-boned going through a red light and then it got hit again about 2 seconds later by another car Ya, I was so shocked it took me a second to start breathing again. Anyway, the woman in the vehicle was fine (driving a Lexus RX suv something). BUT I was thinking how many accidents have more than 1 impact (like a rollover) and how a child can be knocked out of place and therefore be vulnerable when the additional impact occurs. Hopefully some others will chime in

5 points of protection is theoretically safer. The closer you are attached to the car, the more energy the car will absorb, rather than your body. And NASCAR drivers don't seem eager to go back to a three point seatbelt and a HANS device (only needed for extremely high speed crashes, like nothing we'd ever encounter on a road or freeway)...because 5 points *are* safer, for them
The water gets muddy when it comes to actually proving that it's safer in real life cars with real life kids. For one, well over 90% of carseats are misused (and like 1 third or 2 thirds of boosters, so it's not like you move from danger to safety when you go to the booster based on use/misuse alone)...Maybe proper use would make a difference? For two, harnessing older kids is extremely uncommon, so there's no great body of data to show that it's better (death rates from motor vehicle crashes go from number two to number one when kids are typically unharnessed in this country, but I don't have any big study to say that my assumption is correct, that harnessing really IS safer....it's just an interesting blip in the data so far...). For three, data collection isn't that great. A first responder doesn't have a lot of time to observe and ponder the age of the child, the type of restraint, whether it's properly used, and all that other good stuff we wish they had time to document right there on the scene. When they say a child is in a 'car seat', the researchers later just assume a kid under 4 is harnessed, a kid over 4 is boostered, given the lack of any other information.
So right now, the best we can reasonably say, is that a child using any seat that fits them properly and is used properly, is as reasonably safe as they can be. Might they be safer if booster minimums were increased to higher weights and ages? Maybe. Is my 5 year old 'just as safe' in a LiteRider as she is harnessed in her Frontier? Statistically, yeah, if she can sit properly in either one. Do I have a mortal fear of the crash that Firemom describes and want my child as closely coupled to the car as possible? Yup. And I wish Ford would get approval for the 4 point seatbelts they've been promising adults for years now, because I don't think 3 point belts are the pinnacle of awesome safety-ness that the auto industry and government think they are and mandate

I'm just going to say "Yeah That" to Jools.

I *personally* prefer to have my 6.5 year old in a harness, even though he can sit correctly in a booster. However, I freely admit that my choice is not based on ANY scientific evidence that the harness is safer. I just *feel* like it is. I encourage any parent to use an apporpriate restraint for the age/size of the child, regardless of harness or booster. In my efforts as a tech, I'm more concerned about reducing misuse and educating proper use within manufacturer limits at this point, than I am about getting a 7 y/o, 50lb kid in a harness.

I'm also going to go out on a theoretical limb and say that a boostered child with a driver that is distracted by worry and anxiety and constantly looking back to make sure the child is in position is less safe then a harnessed child with a driver that is calm and focused on the road.

firemomof3 said:

I was thinking about this just the other day because an accident happened right in front of me (this was last year). I was sitting at a red light at a busy intersection when WHAM...a car got t-boned going through a red light and then it got hit again about 2 seconds later by another car Ya, I was so shocked it took me a second to start breathing again. Anyway, the woman in the vehicle was fine (driving a Lexus RX suv something). BUT I was thinking how many accidents have more than 1 impact (like a rollover) and how a child can be knocked out of place and therefore be vulnerable when the additional impact occurs. Hopefully some others will chime in

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By the second impact, the belt will have locked. The booster's job is to make sure that when the belt locks, it's properly positioned.

I was in a rollover (I'm counting impacts in my head here... one, two... at least three...) and my belt did its job PERFECTLY. I was in proper position when we had the first impact (side, by the way), and felt my belt lock. I was thrown around against the belt but STAYED IN PLACE because I had been in place during the FIRST impact. I have no doubt that if my daughter had been in her booster and had been awake (and therefore properly positioned) she would have been protected by her belt too.