What do you think of this recommendation from a pediatrician?

[Kidrepair]

A freind dropped her 7.5 year old DD to play with my DD and I was surprised that she was not in a booster, the mom then tells me that her pediatrician told her that in a side impact collision that her hips would break if she were in a booster. She is 53 pds. and I am not sure of her height but she is at least 4-5 inches taller than my DD who is 48 inches. Does this sound right, I thought you could keep them in until the tops of their ears reached the top or maxed out the weight limit on a HBB? On a no back booster I thought that it was until they reached the weight limit or could safely ride in a seatbelt alone. What do you think of this advice? I told her I had never heard of such a thing and that he obviously was no expert but she is going by his recommendation and says her DD fits in the seatbelt anyway. By law here in Illinois she has to ride in a booster until age 8 so why would he give out recommendations on kids which are illegal in our state?

[DebbieJ]

Pediatricians need to stick to what they know--medicine--and stop giving out car seat safety advice.

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
2 year check up: 25 lbs with clothes on and 35 inches!
BFARed for 20 months and 6 days
(Breastfeeding After Reduction is possible! www.bfar.org)

http://www.bfar.org/members/fora/style_avatars/Ribbons/18months-bfar.jpg

[Kat_Mom2D_J_andRuthie]

with the backless, it is when the tops of the ears reach the top of the vehicle seat/vehicle headrest, or when the weight limit is reached.

with the highback, it is as you said.

[Joolsplus2]

No such injury, he's totally outta line. There IS injury to adults in front seats in side impacts smashing into large center consoles, but since the booster 'moves with' the child in a crash, the forces from armrests into the side are going to be quite minimal. It's really distressing he's making stuff up that's illegal and dangerous like that :(
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx