28/4/2010 - CBS News Report on Booster Seat Safety

Although from the USA, this CBS News video is useful it outlines the key things to check when buying and checking a booster seat or cushion. Your childs’ ‘fit’ on the booster seat and the booster seats’ ‘fit’ with your car are so important.

Note that the key messages from the video are the same as in the RoSPA guidance… make sure the lapbelt is snug on your childs’ hip bone (not the stomach) and the diagonal fits over the shoulder (not across the arm). The video shows a frontal impact collision, however, many accidents happen at an angle, so twisting the booster seat and if the seatbelt has ’slack’ in it the child can be ejected from the seat. This 3/4 collision test is not part of the EuroNCAP testing.

Many children find the diagonal annoying and so put their arm over the top of it. As you are probably aware, this is very dangerous!

The CG-Lock will ensure that the lapbelt is snug on your childs’ hips, and will eliminate the usual ‘tipping’ and ‘rocking’ that happens with a regular seatbelt and a fidgety child! Also, as the CG-Lock keeps the child from ’slouching’, we’ve found that the child is sitting up higher and so has less contact with the diagonal around the neck.

Figure 1 clearly shows the ’safe’ vs. unsafe position of the seatbelt.

Figure 2 and 3 show just how far the seatbelt can travel forwards and highlight the need for a snug lapbelt on the hips, not on the stomach.