29/10/2009 - Caution: A Booster Seat Can Injure You

They’re designed to enhance children’s safety, but unsecured, unoccupied seats can become dangerous projectiles in a high-speed crash.

George Clark clicked his seat-belt buckle and relaxed in the back seat of his friend’s car as they headed home from a Boy Scout leader training weekend in Kiel. It was a warm June afternoon, and Clark, 52, chatted with the other two dads sitting up front. Clark paid no attention to the empty booster seat beside him.

Then a car darted across the highway in front of them and they hit it, going close to 50 mph. Clark doesn’t remember what happened during the impact. But severe injuries to the left side of his head and face indicate the unsecured booster seat became airborne and bashed into him, pulverizing his cheekbone, shattering his jaw and causing other injuries.

“It’s something people don’t think about,” said Lynn Clark, George’s wife. “This should go on Good Morning America to tell the world (booster seats) can become projectiles and seriously hurt people.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not keep data on how often people are injured by unsecured booster seats or even on how often people are hurt by any loose cargo. But researchers have found that in a collision, especially a frontal one, unrestrained cargo flies forward with a force exponentially greater than its weight. At 55 mph, a 20-pound parcel exceeds 1,000 pounds of force. A can of peas or the family pet can cause serious injury or even death.

The CG-Lock ensures the booster seat is secured at all times… either empty or securing the child sitting on it.

Reference: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=679607; Milwaukee Journal sentinal, USA.