How's this for my e-mail to the company that published the newsletter:
I just received the August 2008 issue of “Printer’s Press” and was extremely disappointed in your cover article, “Buckle Up, Baby!” The car seat pictured is a model that is discontinued at best and most likely expired at worst. Most troubling is all the poor information contained in your article. You state that for more information you can reference the American Academy of Pediatrics, however, your article does not coincide with the latest recommendations of the AAP, and the web page address you provide is no longer valid.
Children should ride rear facing as long as possible, until they outgrow the rear facing limits of their seat, generally around 2-3 years of age. After that, then they should be turned forward facing until, again, they outgrow the limits of their seat. There are many harnessed options available instead of immediately going into a booster seat.
Your article mentions that once a booster seat is outgrown, kids might benefit from a seat-belt adjuster. Belt adjusters have not been crash tested and are not recommended by the AAP. Serious internal injuries can result from these products because they position the belt across the abdomen rather than across the hips. A properly fitting booster positions the adult-sized seat-belt until the child is large enough and mature enough to fit correctly without the booster.
You did have some good advice, such as trying out the fit of the seat for the child and to also keep children in the back seat due to the dangers air bags pose. I commend you for including an article in your newsletter that you thought would be helpful for many readers, but you missed an opportunity to pass along good information. Articles like this, although well intentioned, only serve to perpetrate outdated, and potentially dangerous, information.
Please consider a note in upcoming newsletters providing the correct web address of the AAP’s car seat information:
http://www.aap.org/healthtopics/carseatsafety.cfm From here a variety of car seat safety topics can be accessed.
Anything else I should include. I doubt anyone other than some flunky at an order desk will see it, but at least I'm trying.