Right now, as you read this, a person is sitting across from another person and saying “I’m pregnant.” After the blood returns to the fellow’s face, they start thinking of everything they need to do in anticipation of the blessed event.
One of the things, eventually, will be picking the best child seat to protect the kiddo in the car.
The good news is that the majority of child seats are well-made, effective and do their job, according to a recent report by the IIHS (Insurance Institute For Highway Safety.) Forty-seven out of 54 booster seats introduced last year earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s highest rating of BEST BET.
The BEST BET rating means a booster provides good seat belt fit for typical 4- to 8-year-olds in almost any car, minivan or SUV. Boosters that are rated GOOD BETs provide acceptable belt fit in almost any vehicle, while those rated Check Fit could work for some children in some vehicles.
Seats designated “Not Recommended” don’t provide good belt fit and should be avoided. Remember, anything offered for sale in the world is also offered for sale in a cheaper, crappier version, everything from guitars to toilet paper to stoves to hair dye to you-name-it.
Among the other new booster seats, one is a GOOD BET and six are rated Check Fit. None are Not Recommended. That’s good news.
It’s not necessary to squander a fortune on a booster, either.
The forty-seven new BEST BETs (32 distinct models) range in price from about $25 for the Harmony Youth Booster Elite with LATCH to $450 for the Graco Turn2Me 3-in-1 Car Seat. Several options, too, are available for less than $40.
Jessica Jermakian, IIHS vice president of vehicle research, offers guidance.
“Booster seats are simple, low-tech devices that don’t have to cost a lot to be effective,” said Jerkmakian. “All a booster needs to do is raise the child up a bit and guide the seat belt so it is positioned correctly. The lap belt should lie flat on the upper thighs and not up against the tummy, and the shoulder belt should fit snugly across the middle of the shoulder.”
Some good facts to know:
*Children ages 4-8 are 45% less likely to sustain injuries in crashes if they are in boosters than if they are using seat belts alone.
*Children should ride in boosters until a vehicle seat belt fits correctly by itself. For some kids, that doesn’t happen until age 12 or so. It’s the law, so you can use that comeback against protestations.
*Boosters have come a long way since 2008, when IIHS started pounding them in their tests. In the Institute’s first booster ratings, only a quarter of the seats evaluated earned the BEST BET designation.
Now, the vast majority of boosters tested meet that high standard.
How long are people required to use a booster for their child? It’s complicated.
A child usually outgrows a booster seat when they are 4 feet 9 inches tall and between 8 and 12 years of age. No 12-year-old wants to be seen riding in a booster, but it’s not about fashion or peer pressure, it’s about safety. If your child isn’t tall enough for the seat belt to cross their body in the right places when they buckle it, it’s not safe for them to ride without a booster.
But the seats themselves won’t prevent injuries or worse. You’ve got to get in the habit of using them on every trip, even short ones. Many parents stop using boosters for their children too early. Others don’t use them all the time because they’re inconvenient to carry.
But if you’d like an even better reason to up your level of awareness on the importance of booster for kids other than the law, consider these sobering statistics.
Deaths in passenger vehicles of children ages 4 to 8 — the most common ages for booster users — rose to 15.2 per million children in 2021 from 11.5 in 2012. Deaths of children ages 9 to 12, many of whom still need boosters, rose to 11.2 per million children in 2021, compared with 9.7 in 2012.
A death of a single child in a crash is devastating, and unncessary. Keep the kiddos snug and safe by picking and using the correct booster seat, says the IIHS, and your Uncle Josh Max.
Click here for an extensive list of recommended boosters by the IIHS.
