Child Seats

According to the NHTSA, "child restraints are highly effective in reducing the likelihood of death or serious injury in motor vehicle crashes." However, statistics contained in a recent Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) Change 2002-11707-20 indicate that child restraint effectiveness for children ages 1-4 is cited as 54 percent in passenger cars and 59 percent in light trucks. A good friend of mine, Dr. Martha Bidez, in responding to this NPRM queried "assuming that these data represent survivable crashes, what other business can survive, much less prosper, with an apparent 40% failure rate?” NHTSA's admission that children die in 40% of all crashes causes me grave concern as a parent. I am disgusted since I know other design opportunities are available but are not used.

Why are child seats so ineffective?

There are five answers to this question;

First, parents simply do not realize that children need something other than an adult seat belt up to age eight or 80 lbs.

Second, child seat inadequacy can be traced to the federal standard that governs child seat safety. Prior to 2002, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS 213) was an antiquated regulation that did not insure that child seats would perform properly in real world type tests. (For the record, 213 has been improved, but it remains woefully inadequate). For example, there was no requirement for angled or offset frontal impacts, side impacts, rear impacts or rollovers. The standard also allowed for 32 inches of forward head excursion despite the fact that oftentimes there was not 32 inches of rear seat space due to downsized vehicle interiors. Also, there was no lateral head excursion provision.

Third, the child seat manufacturers themselves have historically been unsophisticated and under-funded entities that had little to no biomechanical expertise.

Fourth, vehicle manufacturers are not testing child seats in their own vehicles to determine child seat effectiveness.

Lastly, until the LATCH system there was not any requirement that mandated child seat compatibility with the vehicle. Hence, you might have the safest child seat ever built but since it does not fit in your vehicle properly, it is rendered dangerous.

Too many parents and caregivers rush children out of child seats and into the vehicle’s 3-point seat belt. The chart above was proposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Notice that weight, not age, is the determining factor.