Fill in the blank

Mama Jo

New member

• May 13, 2009

• #1

_____% of carseats are being used incorrectly.

I've heard numbers ranging from 75% all the way to 95%... just wondering what number you generally tell people. Obviously there's no way to know for sure since most people never get their seats checked, but I'm presuming it's closer to 95% than 75%.

 

M

Maedze

New member

• May 13, 2009

• #2

I think 80% is the 'official' number.

In my personal experience, the number is between 99-100%. There must have been one or two seats that were correctly installed, because I remember marvelling about it, but I don't remember them spefically. Other than that, I've done over 1000 seat checks and they were ALL installed incorrectly, some worse than others of course.

 

gecikuh

Senior Community Member

• May 13, 2009

• #3

it is officially 80%. i usually tell parents 4 out of 5 are incorrect....its the same thing...just sounds worse IMO.
...and yes, based on experience it is probably much higher...like in the 98% range

 

Mama Jo

New member

• May 13, 2009

• #4

Oh, yeah, 4 out of 5 does sound better. Or worse. More shocking. I'll use that. Thanks!

 

Pixels

New member

• May 13, 2009

• #5

In my tech class I was told that in Massachusetts, it's 98-99%. How did they come up with that number? They stalked drive-throughs at banks, McD's, etc. Whenever they saw a vehicle with a carseat or child who should have been in a carseat, they asked them to pull over for a minute for a free carseat inspection. So instead of only getting numbers from people who actually go to a check, they were bringing the check to the people. The instructor who quoted that number to me was one of the technicians stalking the drive-throughs.

 

BookMama

Senior Community Member

• May 13, 2009

• #6

Maedze said:

In my personal experience, the number is between 99-100%.

Click to expand...

I agree with this - I've never seen a seat that came to a seat check correctly installed/fitting the child properly. And these are the people who are interested enough in car seats to actually come to a seat check!

(Oh wait ... I checked my sister's seat once and it was perfect, but she'd heard a bit about car seats from me. )

 

M

Maedze

New member

• May 13, 2009

• #7

oooo...... car seat stalking with TEETH! I'd love to get in on one of those :ROTFLMAO:

 

miraclebabies

New member

• May 13, 2009

• #8

98%

 

M

Maedze

New member

• May 13, 2009

• #9

You're all wrong. I have it on good authority the number is 98.37%.

 

4boysmom

New member

• May 13, 2009

• #10

Those stats are quite frightening. When I got my KDM seat the installer said my seats (4 of them) were in "great!!" which means for my 4 correct seats there were 16 seats in other cars that were incorrect. Now don't get my wrong I **HAVE** actually seen these other 16 statistical seats being misused, or not even being used, on any given day walking to get my son from school but that makes my heart sad. We are a one car family so my properly used seats are only used on the weekends or occasional evenings to go grocery shopping or something plus .75 miles to school when dh drops us off in the morning to save us a walk vs every day several times a day in a some times horrifically misused seat... the statistical probability of a misused seat being in an accident vs our personal seats is a lot higher .

 

Judi

CPST/Firefighter

• May 13, 2009

• #11

On my area, is was 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999%. A little scary. It is better now, at 87%.

 

Splash

New member

• May 13, 2009

• #12

102%. At least. In some parts of the country, it's inching close to 108%.

 

Mama Jo

New member

• May 13, 2009

• #13

Splash said:

102%. At least. In some parts of the country, it's inching close to 108%.

Click to expand...

Maybe I'll use that one instead. lol

 

NannyMom

Well-known member

• May 13, 2009

• #14

I say 99% of children are riding unsafe.

Be it an improperly used/installed carseat. FF before they should. no booster before they should. Booster before they should. RIding with someone impared. Many factors go into my statistic. But I got it from a bumper sticker I saw online

 

crunchierthanthou

New member

• May 13, 2009

• #15

doesn't NHTSA say something like "more than 80%" rather than an exact figure? Locally, our rate of misuse is over 90%.

 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician

• May 13, 2009

• #16

As I understood it, at least one of the studies got the 80% rate just by peering into cars at stop signs. So they couldn't see misrouted straps in the back or whatever other weird stuff people do (hook to the wrong LATCH hooks or whatever). That made sense to me, since I've only seen one or two seats used right, and those were repeat customers who had paid Safeinthecar (Kim) to teach them how to use their seats right already

But check it out, even boosters are rarely used right... http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/149742.php

 

M

Maedze

New member

• May 13, 2009

• #17

Also, keep in mind that a 30 pound 1 year old is 34" tall would be 'correctly' restrained in a Cosco Ambassador.


If I saw a 12 month old, 20 lb child in a forward facing seat, as much as I'd want to scream MIIISSSSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE, it really isn't.