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Child Safety Seat System Flaws and Advice

What you need to know to help keep your kids safe in the car

Making kids safe in cars seems to be a lot harder than we thought when the first child safety seat made its appearance in 1962. After almost 50 years of legislation and new technology, we still can't get our kids buckled up properly.

Your Kids, Your Car, and You

In 2005, according to government statistics, 1,946 children 14 years old and less died in auto crashes and 234,000 were injured. Of those who died in auto crashes, 46 percent were totally unrestrained in the vehicles. Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that "child safety seats reduce the risk of fatal injury by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers in passenger cars."

There are 61 million children in America and most of their parents want to do the right thing for their kids, but with hundreds of different vehicle models and a hundred or so child safety seat designs, the margin for child safety seat installation error is staggering. Add to that directions that combine lawyer and engineer speak, and parents can understandably get it wrong.

In 2002 the government mandated a LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) anchoring system that does not use seatbelts to install a child safety seat. (Poor tightening of seatbelts in the installation process was the Achilles heel of child seat installation.) It was supposed to allow parents to correctly install a child safety seat in a matter of seconds. The system utilizes two sets of small anchor bars in the rear where the back and seat cushions meet. LATCH-equipped safety seats have a set of attachments that clip to the LATCH anchors. Most forward-facing safety seats also have a top strap or tether that attaches to another anchor behind the seat. LATCH-equipped vehicles have the systems installed on the side or outboard positions in the back seat, but some models offer a center anchor. The system works with infant and toddler child safety seats but not booster seats. LATCH has been phased in since model-year 2000.

Faltering Solutions

"LATCH was supposed to simplify child safety seat installation for parents and that isn't happening," NHTSA Administrator Nicole Nason said, releasing a 2005 study showing that only 55 percent of parents are using the system correctly. Those parents not using the system correctly said they didn't understand it. Parents who got the installation wrong were failing to use upper tethers for the child seats that reduce the tilting or rotation of the seat during a front crash.

Child safety seats cannot be sold in the U.S. unless they pass a 30-mph frontal crash test. Cars can't be sold unless they pass a 35-mph frontal- and 38-mph side-crash test. The 2000 TREAD (Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability and Documentation) Act requires NHTSA to establish a consumer information program for child car seats that would give consumers information about the ease of use and dynamic performance crash testing at higher speeds than 30 mph. The agency still has not included higher speed crash tests in that information. Currently, the car seat information program includes ease-of-use ratings and tips and advice for parents—but no higher speed crash testing.

Child Safety Seat Scare

Adding to the confusion is a recent Consumer Report story that originally showed child safety seats catastrophically flunking crash testing at 38.5 mph in side impacts. As it turned out, the Consumer Report tests were flawed, not the child safety seats, so the publication withdrew its story. Reacting to frightened parents, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that its own tests showed side-impact tests conducted by an outside lab for Consumer Reports were actually conducted in excess of 70 mph—far above the 38.5 mph example cited by the magazine. NHTSA conducted tests of its own at 38.5 mph and found that all the child safety seats performed well: staying on their bases and not dramatically failing.

A recent study at the University of Michigan examined crash data from 1997 to 2002 to compare the benefit of using child restraint systems to seatbelts alone for children two to six years of age. The statistics showed that child seats reduced by 28 percent child fatalities in a crash.

PROTECTING OLDER KIDS

As kids outgrow child safety seats, usually about four years of age, they should graduate to booster seats—not adult seatbelts. A 2000 study by the Journal of Pediatrics found that children who weigh less than 80 pounds and buckle up with adult seatbelts are almost four times more likely to be seriously injured in vehicle crashes than kids riding in booster seats. The study found that 83 percent of 4- to 8-year olds had graduated to using adult seatbelts too soon. A follow-up study by the same group released in 2003 and based on real-world data showed booster seats virtually eliminated injury to the abdomen and spine in auto crashes.

Seatbelt Syndrome

"Besides providing the first evidence of an overall benefit, this study demonstrated the virtual elimination of 'seatbelt syndrome' for children who used the booster seat," says Dr. Dennis R. Durbin, lead author of the study appearing in the June 4, 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association and an attending physician in the emergency department at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "We did not expect to see that dramatic a result." Children who don't fit the seatbelt properly can hit their heads on their knees, jerk forward and damage their spines, or slide out of the belt altogether during a crash. Children who are put in seatbelts too young are not physically suited to the seatbelts. Their legs are too short, their thighs are too short and they scoot forward on the seat. The shoulder belt fits over their face; the lap portion comes up over their belly. For those reasons, the seatbelt becomes the child's enemy in a crash causing severe abdominal and spinal injury.

Safety Facts

The odds of injury were 59 percent lower for children in the 4-to-7-year age bracket in belt-positioning boosters than in seatbelts. Children riding in booster seats had no injuries to the abdomen, neck, spine, back or lower extremities, while children in seatbelts alone had injuries in all body regions. The effectiveness of the booster seats was the same regardless of whether the children used both the lap and shoulder portion of the seat belt or just the lap portion.

Size Over Age

Booster seats work so well because they elevate a child so the vehicle's lap or shoulder belts fit properly. NHTSA recommends that children graduate to a booster seat when they reach 40 pounds and remain in one until they reach a height of 57 inches. Some children would not reach that height cut off until they are older than eight years.

In 2001 only 2 states, California and Washington, required children from 4 to 8 ride in booster seats. Today, 38 states and the District of Columbia have booster seat laws that require older children to use these child safety seats.

When to Use Airbag On-Off Switches

If children are riding in a vehicle without a backseat, NHTSA reminds parents that they should turn off the airbag in the front passenger seat. Only 48 percent of parents turn off the airbag for children 4- to 8-years old, while 86 percent turn the airbag off for children using rear-facing child seats. More than 12 million pickup trucks and a smaller number of passenger cars and cargo vans without rear seats are equipped with airbag on-off switches. Proper use of the switches requires drivers to turn the airbag off for children 12 and under but activate it when an adult occupies that passenger seat.

Final Advice for Parents

1. Restrain children on every trip.

2. Use the rear seat for all children under age 13.

3. Use the appropriate restraint for a child's age and size.

4. Use the restraints correctly.

5. Stay informed on child safety seat recalls. Consumers can have their child passenger safety questions answered by calling NHTSA's Auto Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236. More information about the LATCH child safety seat system is also available on NHTSA's website at www.nhtsa.gov. To arrange a child safety seat inspection, visit www.seatcheck.org or call 1-866-SEATCHECK For Information on Child Safety Restraints contact: Seat Check: 1-866 Seat Check or www.seatcheck.org.