If you’re a new parent, you may be overwhelmed with all the possible choices when it comes to buying a safe car seat or booster seat for your child. With so many models available, how do you know which one is safe or not? Luckily, a new study by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety determined that for the first year ever, the number of safe child seats on the market outnumber the unsafe options. All in all, they test 72 seats and gave 21 of those top rankings as what they consider to be a “best bet” option. This is more than double the amount of high ranking seats that were available to consumers last year.
Out of the seats tested, 8 ended up on the “not-recommended list.” The reason for this ranking is often because the seats only perform well in certain vehicle models. Unlike car seats which are tested with crash dummies in a simulated car accident, testing a booster seat is much less eventful. Using a dummy the size of an average six year-old child, booster seats are tested on how well they position the child in relation to the seat belt. The lap portion of the belt should rest across the upper thighs (not across the stomach) and the shoulder belt should sit at mid-shoulder.
As a personal injury lawyer in South Carolina, I can’t stress enough just how important it is to have your child in a proper car seat or booster seat. Doing so will greatly decrease their chance of personal injury in a car accident. If your child is under 4’9″ or 8 years old, they need to ride in a booster seat so that the seat belt will keep them safe in an accident. Even if your child is 13 years old, they are safer riding in the back seat of your car.
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