How tall is he? IIRC the law is 5 or 36 inches, not 4?
Actually, as long as the child is 36" (most kids are 36" at 3 years of age), then he doesn't have to be in anything but a regular seatbelt.
The law used to be better then it is now. They revised it and made it worse. Hopefully it will be revised again to made a little better this year.
Here was the old wording in the law prior to 2005:
A person commits an offense if the person operates a passenger vehicle, transports a child who is younger than four years of age or less than 36 inches in height, and does not keep the child secured during the operation of the vehicle in a child passenger safety seat system according to the instructions of the manufacturer of the safety seat system.
This read:
A: Child less then 4 years old
B: Child less then 36 inches in height
C: Must ride in a carseat
If A or B then C
If either A or B is true, then C must occur. This means that a 3 years old must ride in a seat regardless of how tall they are.
True or False = True
True or True = True
False or False = False
Now in 2005, they changed the wording
A person commits an offense if the person operates a passenger vehicle, transports a child who is younger than five years of age and less than 36 inches in height and does not keep the child secured during the operation of the vehicle in a child passenger safety seat system according to the instructions of the manufacturer of the safety seat system.
Now it is
A: child less the 5 years old
B: Child is less then 36 inches
C: Must be in a carseat
Law reads
If A and B, then C
True and True = True
True and False = False
False and False = False
Only if both A and B are true, does C need to occur. If A or B is false then the entire conditional statement is false and C does not have to occur. It was actually better the way it was prior to them touching it.
Here is some documentation they published after it was first put out that does in indicate that a 36 inch tall 2 year old does not legally need to be in a carseat
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/public_information/pr090705.htm
