Carseat safety ~ re: booster seats

[dueinapril]

I am wondering, is there some information out there with clear cut guidelines about when to move a child into a booster seat? My son is turning 3 in April and he is off the charts for height. I have him in the graco booster b/c he met the requirements by height. I am on a parenting board and there seems to be disagreement about when it's safe to move a child into the booster seat. Some argue that you have to go by weight and height, some argue that a 5 pt. harness is always going to be safer than a shoulder seat belt... I need some information from sources that have been approved by govt., consumer reports... or someone!!

[Joolsplus2]

Well, for one thing, Graco says the minimum age for the Turbo is 3, so you're going against their own product guidelines...
But mostly, it's a maturity issue...little kids do NOT sit properly in boosters, cannot understand how to sleep without falling over and their head leaning on the door, and if you want to throw skeletal development in there, you are asking one of his tiny shoulders to do a LOT of work holding back his proportionately huge head in a crash.
How heavy is he? There are plenty of seats with taller top slots, so that you can keep him safely harnessed up to a full 40 pounds (or longer)...if he is well under 40 pounds, then the Graco Platinum Cargo or Evenflo Chase or Generations are great seats. If he's near forty pounds, then the Britax Marathon or Husky which harness to much higher weights, are a better choice.
A 5-point harness is safer than a three point (lap/shoulderbelt) seatbelt for ALL of us, which is why racecar drivers and pilots use 5 point harnesses, and car companies are researching putting them into regular cars (yay, Volvo!).
As for actual statistics, there aren't many, because there are so few kids actually harnessed beyond about 40 pounds and age four, but as more and more kids are harnessed longer and longer, the data will show they are safer (which is why my 5 yo is in a Marathon and my 7 yo is in a Husky :) )
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[Joolsplus2]

Oh, and just to give you a visual of the difference in a booster vs a harnessed seat, here are crash test videos of seats similar to US seats, (it's an Austrian test).
http://tinyurl.com/4m7xk
http://tinyurl.com/598wv

Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[dueinapril]

The links aren't working for me (crash tests). I guess i never even put that much weight into the age on the turbobooster. I am not saying that I am right about this, but i just figured the weight or height was more important. That is why I want to read something that has been written by someone that has studied this closely, has done many tests on products... kwim? It just seems like there is a lot of talk about what is right, but no true source to even go to. Maybe I am asking for too much by looking for some accredited information, but it's hard to decide for myself when every state even differs on what is appropriate for car seat use. Intersting about the 5 pt. harness idea though! Thank you.

[Joolsplus2]

Yeah, I'm bummed those crash test videos didn't work :(...A picture is worth 10,000 words in that case. (if you want to try to click through to them---they are in frames--you can click here http://www.oeamtc.at/tests/kindersitze/ then on "test archiv" for 2001 and/or 2002 and then as you click on the picture of each seat, you can watch the "frontcrashtest" and "seitencrashtest" for all of them, and it's very dramatic)

This site has more information...they are doing the most research into children suffering from car crash related injuries:
http://www.chop.edu/consumer/jsp/div...c.jsp?id=77971

Every step "up" in seats is a step "down" in safety...rearfacing is safest, followed by 5 points of protetction, followed by only three points of protection...and car crashes are the number one cause of death and injury for kids... Like I said, they haven't done the research yet on the difference between harnessed and boostered kids, but I'm putting all my bets on more protection rather than less, for as long as I possibly can.

:)


Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[AlisonGilmore]

I just went to the store to buy a car seat for my mom's car for my 17 month DD. My mom drives DD every day. The salesperson recommended we buy a Graco convertible booster that has a 5 point harness. The mimimum age is 1 year and minimum weight is 20 pounds. Is anyone familiar with this option? It's sort of a hybrid...

[Joolsplus2]

Oh my gosh! I posted to this a day ago, and it didn't post!

I did say it was a great choice! I recommend that seat a lot for just that age/weight kid, and it's easy enough for a grandma to use, IMO.

Hope you are enjoying your seat!
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 2 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx