joolsplus3
Admin - CPS Technician
I was looking over the IIHS page for head restraint ratings. http://www.iihs.org/ratings/head_restraints/head_restraint_info.html It shows how the geometry has to be good to actually protect the head in a rear crash. I looked for my van, 2003 Odyssey, and they don't go back that far on the Honda page, but the 2005-07 Models are only marginal, and I know that my van headrests are quite far behind my head and unlikely to be 'good'
You can check your own car here... http://www.iihs.org/ratings/default.aspx
So we 'know' that the rule for a backless booster is that the headrest is tall enough to be at least as high as the tops of your child's ears, but when you couple it with these other measurements of how far behind the head the restraint actually is, it may not be optimally safe.
A highback booster offers at least some extra support so the head doesn't fly back as far in a rear impact and while I don't 'know' that it'll help prevent whiplash with any statistics, it seems intuitive that it would, right?
And of course a highback offers substantial protection against side impact crashes... http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/chop-htb090905.php
All I'm saying is, check your car's ratings on that IIHS page before making the leap to a backless, to make sure you aren't giving up a lot of safety to do so. Of course, once they outgrow a tall highback, there may be no choice, but proper seatbelt use is a huge factor in preventing injuries, so just keep encouraging that :thumbsup:
You can check your own car here... http://www.iihs.org/ratings/default.aspx
So we 'know' that the rule for a backless booster is that the headrest is tall enough to be at least as high as the tops of your child's ears, but when you couple it with these other measurements of how far behind the head the restraint actually is, it may not be optimally safe.
A highback booster offers at least some extra support so the head doesn't fly back as far in a rear impact and while I don't 'know' that it'll help prevent whiplash with any statistics, it seems intuitive that it would, right?
And of course a highback offers substantial protection against side impact crashes... http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/chop-htb090905.php
All I'm saying is, check your car's ratings on that IIHS page before making the leap to a backless, to make sure you aren't giving up a lot of safety to do so. Of course, once they outgrow a tall highback, there may be no choice, but proper seatbelt use is a huge factor in preventing injuries, so just keep encouraging that :thumbsup: