An Overview of Car Booster Seats

Every year, motor vehicle accidents claim the lives of thousands and leave thousands more debilitated. Highway crash related deaths are the number one cause of death and injury for young people ages 5 to 27. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) reported that for the year 1998 there were 41,471 fatalities and 3,192,000 injuries due to motor vehicle accidents, 414,960 of them children. The numbers seem to improve with time. In 2000, children figured in 248,000 car crashes but still 1,668 of these children died. Because of these statistics, the law now requires that children under the age of four be secured in car booster seats.

As the name implies, a car booster seat boosts the child up so that the vehicle’s lap and shoulder belts restrain him safely. The children who were seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents weren’t properly restrained; car seat belts were designed for adults not children and therefore would not be able to hold children securely in place in the event of an accident. Car seat belts when used to secure children can actually do more harm than good.

How could something designed to protect a vehicle’s occupants turn out to be harmful? The car seat belt has two parts – the shoulder belt and the lap belt. Keep in mind the differences in the body size between adults and children. The shoulder belt should be between the shoulder and the neck and across the center of the chest. The shoulder belt can actually rub a child’s neck. To ease his discomfort, the child is likely to remove the shoulder belt either by placing it under the arm or behind the back or moving into a position where only the lap belt keeps him in place. This leaves the upper body unprotected. In the event of a car crash, the upper body rotates in a jackknife motion. The child is thrown forward, hits the back of the front seat or his own knees. Typical injuries range from concussions, cerebral contusions to subdural hematomas and a myriad of other head and facial injuries. Children who were not in car booster seats were found to have higher risk of facial and head injuries.

On the other hand, the risk of abdominal injury increases in children who use only the vehicle’s seat belt instead of car booster seats. If a car booster seat is not used, the lap belt rests on the stomach, when it should be on top of the legs of small children. In the event of a car crash, the crash forces are concentrated on the child’s abdomen. There could be considerable damage to the stomach, liver or spleen. The risk is increased if the child slouches or misuses the shoulder belt. Slouching automatically places the lap belt on the stomach.

The NHTSA recommends that children should continue riding in a car booster seat until they are 8 years old or 4 feet and 9 inches tall. Children are required by law to use the appropriate car booster seats in Arkansas, New Jersey, California, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Washington.