According to a report, funded by the insurance industry, half of children’s car booster seats can’t ensure a proper fit with all safety belts. They say that a sealt belt should fit across the child’s lower legs and not their stomach. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said six were so bad that it recommended parents avoid them. Most children between the ages of 4 and 8 or 9 are required, by law to be in a booster seat.
- Children ages 4-8 in booster seats are 45% less likely to be injured in a crash than those using only seat belts.
The IIHS rated the booster seats on how well they fit the millions of 4- to 8-year-olds with the lap and shoulder belts.
- Of 83 seats tested, 41 got a “check fit” rating because they don’t consistently fit well with belts and 36 were rated “best bets” or “good bets” by IIHS.
- Four booster seats made by Evenflo and two by Dorel’s Safety 1st brand were rated so poorly that IIHS recommended consumers not use them. They are: the Evenflo Chase, Express, Generations 65 and Sightseer models and Safety 1st’s All-in-One and Alpha Omega Elite. IIHS said the seats don’t “provide proper belt fit.”
If seat belts aren’t positioned properly, children can hit parts of the vehicle in a crash and even be injured by the belts, which can slice into internal organs.
The best booster seats were from a Canadian company, Harmony Juvenile Products. All five of its seats were “best bets.” The first inflatable booster seat, the BubbleBum, also got the top rating.
Booster seats that can be used with or without their high backs were tested both ways and often had different ratings. Fourteen of these “dual-use” boosters were “good” or “best” when backs were used, but got a “check fit” rating when backless.
You can click here to see how the tests were done and see pictures of proper booster seat use.
