Not all booster seats keep kids safe…
If you’re taking steps to ensure your older child’s safety by using a booster seat now he’s outgrown his toddler car seat congratulations: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reckons around 80% of kids who should use a booster seat don’t.
Sadly, statistics show that around 350 children ages 4-7 die in crashes each year in the US, and an additional 50,000 are injured. Because half of the fatally injured children in this age group ride unrestrained, year olds are more likely to die in a car crash than babies and toddlers. Using boosters lowers injury risk by 59% compared with belts alone, a 2003 study by the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found. A 2006 study by the same authors found that boosters reduce fatality risk among booster-age children by about 28% compared with belts alone.
Why boosters help
Booster seats are designed to raise a child up so that the adult seat belt fits correctly: with the lap portion resting across his hips instead of his stomach, and the shoulder portion lying across his shoulder and chest, not his neck. This ensures that in the event of an accident, he’ll be adequately restrained. However, recent tests into a range of booster seats suggest your child may not be riding as safely as you think. In fact, 13 of 41 belt-positioning booster seats just evaluated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute did such a poor job of improving the fit of lap and shoulder belts for children that the IIHS doesn’t recommend them at all. Ten models are regarded as ‘best bets’ and five are ‘good bets’.
The tests focused on how well the car safety belt fitted a child rather than crash protection because a booster seat isn’t intended to restrain a child during a crash – it simply positions him so the car seat belt is in the right position to do its job. Researchers assessed both backless and highback booster seats. More importance was assigned to lap belt fit and the booster seats that came out poorly left the lap belt partially or fully on a child’s abdomen. Fit is important because a correctly positioned lap belt loads pelvic bones during a crash, not the abdomen. A good booster also positions the shoulder belt at mid-shoulder, keeping the webbing away from the neck so it won’t chafe, and reducing the likelihood that kids will endanger themselves by putting the belt behind their back or under an arm.
Choosing the best seat for your child
“Boosters that provide better belt fit aren’t necessarily the priciest,” notes Anne McCartt, IIHS senior vice president for research. “Parents don't have to spend a lot of money for a best bet or good bet booster.” The highback Graco Turbo-Booster, for example, converts to a backless booster and retails for about $50, while the backless-only version sells for about $20.
Child safety seat laws in 43 states and the District of Columbia include booster seat provisions, but until now there has been little information on how to pick one that provides proper belt fit because the government’s dynamic tests of boosters don’t measure belt fit. Congress in 2002 told the NHTSA to evaluate a belt fit test, but the agency decided to forgo testing. Instead, it only rates boosters by how easy they are to use. Manufacturers crash test boosters, but these simulated tests don’t tell parents how boosters will fit kids in their vehicles.
The tests found that backless boosters generally provided better lap belt fit but you should use the belt-positioning clip if necessary to prevent the seat belt falling too close to your child’s neck. Because of built-in guides, highbacks generally do a better job of positioning shoulder belts across all vehicle configurations – however, 12 of the 26 evaluated failed to correctly position lap belts. Good boosters have belt-routing features that hold lap belts down and forward. Keep in mind that combination seats may be fine when their harnesses restrain younger children, but many don’t do as good a job when used as a booster seat.
Best bets
The 10 best-bet boosters are the most likely to position not only lap belts but also shoulder portions correctly on many children in many vehicles. Best bets include:
Combi Kobuk (backless)
Fisher-Price Safe Voyage (backless)
Graco TurboBooster (backless)
Britax Monarch (highback)
Britax Parkway (highback)
Fisher-Price Safe Voyage (highback)
LaRoche Bros. Teddy Bear (highback)
Recaro Young Style (highback)
Volvo booster cushion (highback)
Safeguard Go Combination Seat (when used as a backless booster)
Good bets
The five good bets provide acceptable belt fit in almost as many vehicle belt configurations. They are:
Combi Kobuk (highback)
Graco TurboBooster (highback)
Safety Angel Ride Ryte (highback)
Recaro Young Sport Combination Seat (when used as a highback)
Safety 1st/Dorel Apex 65 Combinations Seat (when used as a highback)
Boosters not recommended by the IHHS
At least two of these models have been discontinued, hopefully replaced by better designs, but booster manufacturers sometimes reuse names and even model numbers for new seats, so manufacture dates and model numbers are important…
Compass B505 (highback)
Compass B510
Cosco/Dorel Traveler
Evenflo Big Kid Confidence
Safety Angel Ride Ryte (backless)
Combination Cosco/Dorel Alpha Omega
Cosco/Dorel (Eddie Bauer) Summit
Cosco Highback Booster
Dorel/Safety 1st (Eddie Bauer) Prospect
Evenflo Chase Comfort Touch
Evenflo Generations
Graco CarGo Zephyr
Safety 1st/Dorel Intera.