Read this if you care about your children

By Trina~moderator on Sunday, February 6, 2005 - 12:24 pm:

That is the actual title of the article, BTW.

By Kristy on Sunday, February 6, 2005 - 05:17 pm:

My son is eight years old and he is only 4'2" hes never once riddin' in a car without a car seat. All my boys except for the two oldest ones use car seats.. Which my boys are biological 9,7,6, foster are 12,10,4. They dont mind being in a car seat because they realize it will save their lives.

By Kate on Sunday, February 6, 2005 - 05:41 pm:

Trina, I understand AGE and HEIGHT requirements...but I don't quite understand WEIGHT requirements. If they are a certain age, that means their bones and ligaments are that age and have grown/matured/strengthened/whatever, for X number of years. If they are a certain height, that means the belt will fit on them at specific spots. So where does weight come in?? This article says the child should be 4 feet ten inches and 80 pounds. What if the child is 4 feet ten inches and 70 pounds?? You can't put a child who is too tall in a booster as he won't have the back of his head supported, and the shoulder belt might be too low on him. It just seems to me if their height is right and their bones have aged appropriately, the weight seems a non issue. I hope you can enlighten me! TIA!

By Kate on Monday, February 7, 2005 - 09:47 am:

bumping for trina

By Trina~moderator on Monday, February 7, 2005 - 05:38 pm:

Kate, sorry it has taken me so long to reply. We've been having ISP problems and had friends visiting from out of state all weekend.

The 4'10", 80 lbs. requirement will be the new Ontario restraint law. Child restraint laws don't always coincide with safety recommendations because politics are involved. Below is a link to view different state restraint laws. As you can see, they vary A LOT. More and more states are changing their laws to include older kids in boosters, but it is a long, political process.

IIHS - Child Restraint Laws

Actually with booster age kids it has more to do with size than age. I'm not good at physics but the height and weight recommendations were brought about after studying crash dynamics and accident and hospital reports, etc.. I also remember one of my CPS Tech instructors saying that car manufacturers have stated vehicle seat belts are designed to restrain people at least 4'9" and 85 lbs.., or something to that effect. (Don't quote me on the specifics but it coincided with booster recommendations.) Obviously kids of all ages differ in size, height and weight greatly. There is no cookie cutter recommendation that covers every child. There will always be exceptions. The recommendations try to cover the masses and/or what's considered the norm. The general recommendation is for kids to stay in boosters until at least 4'9", 80-100 lbs. and can pass the 5 Step Test. Most boosters on the market go to either 80 or 100 lbs..

More info about boosters at these sites:

BoosterSeat.gov

NHTSA - A Parents Guide to Buying and Using Booster Seats

By Karen~moderator on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 09:24 am:

Moved from Gen. Discussion board.