It’s sure to be all the rage among child safety advocates and all the panic among parents. Did you hear? Your booster may not be recommended! If it had just been some leading consumer magazine with another sensationalist headline based on faulty test results, we’d be very skeptical. This time, the report was from the IIHS and UMTRI, two institutions that are very highly respected in the child passenger safety community.
Is your child unsafe? Should you run out to buy a new booster? Maybe you should listen to Marvin’s 12 Steps for Safeness plan and avoid boosters altogether? IS IT TIME TO PANIC? How can you answer any of those questions with certainty?
It’s easy and it’s nothing new. CarseatBlog.Com readers don’t need a lengthy press release to tell them how. They just follow the simple 5-step test from SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A. If your child passes the test, then you may answer, “No” to all those questions and essentially consider the IIHS report a nice, relaxing read that isn’t particularly relevant to you at all. After all, the most important thing is the fit to your child, in your car, with your booster. Your results may vary from the dummy that resembles a typical 6 year-old in the various cars they used for fit testing. Keep in mind these were somewhat more subjective evaluations of proper fit that you can easily do yourself, rather than more objective crash testing results.
You may also want to read the full report in PDF format about how some boosters may not fit some kids properly. There’s also the full study in the IIHS research paper or you can watch the video.
Armed with this information, savvy CarseatBlog.Com readers can grab a coffee and have a good read, ignoring the panic that will likely ensue from mainstream media sources! Be sure to stay tuned for our recommendations on the safest booster seats, or at least some of our favorites, anyway!
Stephanie… could you post a link to this broadcast, please??
What I want to know is WHY DIDN’T I HEAR ABOUT A CAR SEAT CHECK IN LA UNTIL IT WAS OVER??? I’ve been looking for them for AGES and my husband was HOME today and I heard nothing about it so I didn’t get to go. 🙁
Replace handles with armrests–just a typo. SMT
Thanks for the plug for the 5-Step Test which we learned, soon after devising it, needs to be applied to fit of boosters. As it happened, today we had a very early call for live TV at a site where we were holding a midday checkup. I heard the news on the radio, took the written materials with me, and we were able to focus our coverage on the story and its relevance to the sights we had to share. The mayor of the town brought her twin 9 year olds and a booster first. Well, imagine–the taller, slimmer twin needed the booster as well but not only that but she didn’t fit well at all in TurboBooster mom had just bought. She fit much better in an Ola we happened to have for testing the girls. But the somewhat chunkier twin fit the TurboBooster like a dream. Although we showed a few of the non-recommended and a couple of recommended boosters/combos, we spent the entire time explaining fit. We generated plenty of interest in the checkup among parents with older kids as well as the younger ones AND the mayor is hoping to help us to make Glendora a model city for CPS, especially for the older kids. When I mentioned K-3 for Boosters Are For Big Kids, she said, “But my girls are in 4th grade!” Of course, we are game, the higher the better.
We have tried since 2001 to get NHTSA to use the 5-Step Test for fit, not ages, lbs, or height. Maybe this will convince them? One cannot focus on kids only; it must take the car into account.
Also all day we had TurboBoosters come through; not one had the screws in the sides for the handles. Cheers, Stephanie, SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A.
In the JPMA response to this study, they state that there has never been a documented case of seat belt syndrome due to an ill fitting booster. Does anyone know if this is in fact the case?
but could we use this to get Britax to bring back the Fisher Price booster?
I found it funny that one seat I really do love as a booster (Evenflo Generations/Bolero) was said to be Not recommended.
I’ve used it as a booster for my oldest son when he was in the Regent and went to spend a month with his grandparents (no top tethers and space constrictions) and it made the belts fit him perfectly… just as well as the Turbobooster that his brother used (which the company lists as a best bet)
I think the typical CarseatBlog reader is the type who would return a booster whose fit seemed unsatisfactory even without input from IIHS. My question is, can we tell by looking how well a seat will protect in a crash? IIHS & UMTRI didn’t crash test any of these seats, so WE DON’T KNOW.
lol… I know… how fast do you think albeebaby will sell out on the fisher price seat? ha. I wouldn’t be surprised if they take it off their “sale” boosters! lol. all of a sudden they will cost $79 again!
OK, OK, I do admit to a bit of panic, but only because when I turned on my phone this morning my inbox was jammed with emails about the article. Living on the left coast has a distinct disadvantage when it comes to breaking news like this.
But then, there’s nothing to panic about, other than the run on discontinued and unavailable boosters this report is going to create. Ah, so reminiscent of CR stories, huh. I think the main gist of the report is what techs have said all along: buy the seat that fits your child, your vehicle and your budget. Not every booster fits every vehicle, nor does it fit every child. It’s surprising to most folks, I guess, because they feel it’s the cheapest step in the car seat game (though some of us know it can potentially be the costliest, lol).
And maybe manufacturers will quit making the boosters which don’t work well. *sigh* We could only hope…
Well – hopefully this will make parents LOOK at how their child fits…
Maybe we’ll get some kids out of some 3 in 1’s that generally don’t make good boosters… 🙂
And we’ll have to answer lots of questions from parents… but that’s ok… so long as they are asking questions!