Car Safety And Booster Seats - Is It Real?
The short answer would be “yes, booster seats can increase car safety.” However, there are things that you should consider before choosing the safest kind of booster seat for your child. If you have read this article up to this point, then you may be wondering what booster seats are and how they can help keep your child secure.
A booster seat is a cushioned extra seating for the little kids you have in your vehicle as passengers. This is totally different from infants’ seats with their five point harnesses and straps. Booster seats usually attach to your passenger seats via the safety seatbelts instead of its own straps. If you haven’t heard of booster seats before this article, then you may not be securing your little darling’s safety while you drive with them in your automobile.
When your child has grown and become too big for infant carriers and toddler restraints, you need to look for the most suitable and safest booster seat you can find. You kid, whether he likes it or not, would need a booster seat until the time he reaches almost 5 feet in height. Your seven-year-old may feel that he should graduate to the traditional seatbelt but you should know better. Until the time that he reaches 8, your kid needs to be put in a booster for his own safety. If he does not want to, and finds the practice “childish,” tell him to get out of the car and ride a bus. Just kidding. What I mean is that, you will need to explain to your child why a booster seat is important.
There have been recent studies done on booster seats out in the market and their overall safety. Although experts still maintain that having a booster is better than skipping it altogether, there are booster seats that are made better than the others. You might be surprised that some of the higher-end, supposedly quality seats have been proven to do poorly on safety tests done. To ensure that you are getting the safest possible bets, you should research on which brands have done well on safety tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The quality of booster seats is not in question though, since the materials used for the seats were not tested. What was tested is the way most car seatbelts fit the booster seat and whether the size is standard enough to simulate the way seatbelts should be placed on an adult passenger. Some of the seats tested put the safety seatbelts on the abdomen and too high up by the neck area, while some proved to be too low. This placement can cause serious injuries to the child in case of a crash. Safety seatbelts should ride exactly on the lap and then at midshoulder of any passenger, regardless of age.
To be sure of the safety of a booster seat, ask the store manager to have the seat fitted onto your car with your child in it. Also, if you are planning on buying a new car, look for models that have an integrated and adjustable booster cushion.
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