Crash test? Kid in booster vs. seat belt

*HH*

New member
Does anyone know of a video clip showing a kid in a booster vs. a kid fastened with only a seat belt?
 
ADS

*HH*

New member
If this thread is posted in the wrong place would a Admin please move it to the right place for me? :eek:
 

JerseyGirl'sMama

New member
I think it's fine here. I remember seeing a video clip from youtube here a little bit back, and i'd offer to go find it for you, but, I just got my laptop back from being worked on and I have yet to update my virus protection. I need to steer clear of youtube right now. If you go there, and search you can probably find it. Good luck!
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
I moved the thread to Coffee Break where it's on topic, and more members are likely to see the thread and post crash test links for you. :)
 

*HH*

New member
Thank you ladies! :thumbsup:

I hope there exsists one of a booster vs. seat belt. I just have to keep looking or hope that someone in here knows of any video clip.
 

Chex

New member
In case any one else is interested. Look at the illustration on page 32 , Booster vs. no booster: HERE

I need to show that to my SIL. She currently has her 8 year old in a lap-only belt in the middle of an Excursion. She thinks it's safer there than putting him in a lap-shoulder belt w/o a booster. I told her that a carseat (for one of her younger kids) needs to go in that spot and that her 8 year old (not even close to 4'9") needs to go back into a booster seat. She thinks he's safe because they're in such a big vehicle that "they'd win in an accident." I don't think she understands how dangerous the lap-only belt is.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
<shudder>...amazing how people think a lapbelt is safe (why shouldn't they? if it were bad would they be in cars? I can't blame people for not 'getting it'). Here's a news article that might help http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/06/earlyshow/living/ConsumerWatch/main641351.shtml
(also, put it this way, when that kid, who weighs, what, 50 pounds? is in a crash at only 30 mph, his body will suddenly 'weigh' 1500 pounds...you don't want that force on his abdomen, you want to spread it out with two belts on his strong, bony pelvis, chest, and shoulder to prevent serious internal injury...hopefully this is a thinking mama that can understand that imagery and make a better choice for her kiddo :) )
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
lol...I know what you mean, but a kid who is in a booster *IS* only fastened in with the seat belt.
It's just that the seat belt is (hopefully) positioned correctly by the booster.
This is just one of my pet peeves...it seems like so many people think a booster seat provides a child *more* protection than "just a seat belt". It does NOT. A booster simply allows the child to get the proper protection from a seat belt, it does not increase the protection. A child who does not fit into a seat belt without a booster is getting LESS protection than what a seat belt provides. A child in a booster gets, at MAXIMUM, the amount of protection a seat blet can provide, nothing more.
It is semantics, but I think it is a very important distinction..
It's like saying breastmilk increses a child's IQ..NO, it doesn't. Feeding a child breastmilk allows the child to have an IQ as high as the child's potential is....feeding an artificial milk substitute LOWERS IQ......

Being in a booster isn't "safer" than just a seat belt, it is "as safe as " a PROPERLY fitting seat belt can be. Not being in a booster is LESS safe.

I think if more parents thught about it like this, they wouldn't be in such a hurry to get their kids into boosters.....I think boosters actually give parents a false sense of security. For example, I knwo a lot of people who wouldnt' put their 3 yo in "just" a seat belt, but feel perfectly okay with putting them in an unharnessed booster seat. Because they feel the booster is a safety seat like a harnessed seat is..that it somehow adds protection on to the car seat belt....If a booster weren't an option, they would probably still have their kids harnessed, but because boosters are the big push these days, they feel perfectly fine about using one and believe it will keep their child safe.....

Am I making any sense at all?
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Well, a deep winged high back booster seems to offer a lot more side impact protection than just a seatbelt, or a low back booster. And the booster helps take some of the forces that would be distributed across the hips, rather than just having them right on the weak pelvic bone of a child. So a booster does offer benefits over just the seatbelt, but yes, the child is just being restrained by the seatbelt.

Wendy
 

HEVY

New member
OMG I never never never want to take my kid out od a 5-point harness. I'm feeling anxiety here. :dizzy:
 

*HH*

New member
That is what I believe as well :)
Well, a deep winged high back booster seems to offer a lot more side impact protection than just a seatbelt, or a low back booster. And the booster helps take some of the forces that would be distributed across the hips, rather than just having them right on the weak pelvic bone of a child. So a booster does offer benefits over just the seatbelt, but yes, the child is just being restrained by the seatbelt.

Wendy
I understand and agree with most of what you are saying bobandjess99 but these kind of boosters will offer more side protection for a child in a side collision than only a seat belt would:

Maxi+Cosi+Rodi+XR.jpg

KidFix_Ellen_2008.jpg
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
I gotta say, I'm 100% sure that my kids in tethered SIP designed Recaro Starts are safer in their boosters than I am in just a seatbelt. We are probably equal when they are in backless boosters. But yeah, there's a lot more to boosters adding safety than 'just lifting the child up' so the belt fits better.

If the crash tests aren't convincing enough, consider the statistics: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/chop-htb090905.php

The risk reduction provided by booster seats in side-impact crashes varied by booster seat type: 4-to 8-year-olds riding in high back booster seats were at a 70 percent reduction in injury risk, while those in backless boosters did not experience a statistically significant risk reduction as compared with seat belts alone.


I would definitely argue that it's different from breastfeeding (and that's my favorite comeback... that BF is normal, other numbers are different ;)), because the highback numbers are so significantly better than seatbelts alone.
 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
I can agree about the side protection, but these parents aren't buying those expensive boosters, they're in cosco high backs at best or (mostly what i see) backless boosters...at age 3...because they "can" be according to the law, if they are 30 pounds.........I know the boosters do provide some extra protection, but so many parents think it's magical or something...or at the vert least.they believe it is *equal* to the protection of a harnessed seat, just for slightly older kids....and we all know it's NOT, especially not in that very young 2-4 age group that I see all the time.....most of the could/should stilll be RFing, but they're in a backless turbo, because that was the cheapest thing on the shelf when they got too big for their INFANT bucket....

I'm a bit grouchy today, lol!
 

hunypooh77

New member
Ok now I feel like crap that my 6 1/2 year old rides in a graco safe seat step3 booster. (is it really any different than a turbo booster) Even though I am a freak about making sure its at the right height and that the belt is positioned right I now wonder how safe he really is...
Oh and if anyone is wondering he weighs about 53 pounds....
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
A child of that age and weight if he sits properly is safe in his booster.

The Safestep 3 and the Turbobooster are the same seat.

Wendy
 

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