Car Seat Safety for Kids

Car Seat Safety News

Check back often for the latest news and updates on child passenger safety (CPS).

Survey Reveals Five Common Child Restraint Misuses

September 17, 2012

In the summer of 2011, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducted a national survey of child restraint system use for child passengers from birth to age 8. This study has revealed five common mistakes when installing child safety seats. Below are the errors, along with the correct installation technique.

1. The wrong harness slot was used in both rear- and forward-facing restraints. For rear-facing, the harness should be at or no more than 2 inches below your child’s shoulders. For forward-facing, the harness should be at or no more than 2 inches above your child’s shoulders.
2. The retainer/chest clip wasn’t properly positioned. The clip should be at armpit level.
3. The child safety seat was loose. A car seat should never be able to move more than 1 inch from side to side or front to back.
4. The harness strap was loose. There should be no slack on the harness strap when you pinch the strap at your child’s shoulder.
5. The lap belt was improperly placed for a child in a booster seat or a lap and shoulder belt. The lap belt should lie snugly across your child’s upper thighs (and never his stomach) while the shoulder belt should lie snugly across his shoulder and chest.

For information, videos, and other tools to help you learn more about correct restraint use for your child as he grows, please visit Car Seat Safety by Age. 

CHOP Joins the Battle Against Pediatric Heat Stroke

July 30, 2012

Throughout the summer of 2012, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been spreading the word to parents and other child caretakers about heat stroke, also known as hyperthermia. In the past 14 years, more than 500 deaths have been reported that were due to children being left in motor vehicles in warm weather. While some of these children were left to run a “quick errand” or were playing in an unlocked car, the majority were left unintentionally due to a break in routine or distraction.

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and NHTSA have released a report evaluating several devices designed to remind parents that they have a child in the vehicle and prevent children from being accidentally left behind. Of the devices tested, none were found to be reliable to work as a sole reminder strategy for parents. There are simple steps that parents can take to avoid forgetting their child in the car.
Read these actionable tips and learn more about heat stroke   

The Latest on LATCH

April 12, 2012

Today, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released a report evaluating ease-of-use for the Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) system in 98 top-selling 2010-11 passenger vehicles, finding that only 21 models have an easy-to-use LATCH system. The research was conducted jointly by IIHS and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). Volunteer parents installed child safety seats in the vehicles using LATCH, which were then checked by certified child passenger safety technicians. Common barriers to improper installation included anchors buried deep within the back seat, safety belt buckles interfering or obstructing the lower anchors, and the amount of force needed to secure a tight fit.

"We know that, when used properly, the LATCH system is effective at keeping kids secure in cars and just as safe as using a seat belt for child safety seat installation.” said Mark Zonfrillo, MD, MSCE, a child road traffic safety researcher at the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). “The IIHS and UMTRI research highlights challenges with installing car seats using LATCH in certain vehicles. Understanding barriers to proper car seat installation can help us to minimize misuse today as well as inform future vehicle design.”

For more information about installing car seats using LATCH, including an informational video, click here.

Below are the 2011 models that meet the 3 easy-installation criteria for depth, clearance and force from IIHS:

• Audi A4 Quattro
• Cadillac Escalade
• Chevrolet Equinox LT
• Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew Cab LT
• Chevrolet Suburban LT
• Chevrolet Tahoe LS
• Chrysler Town and Country (2010)
• Dodge Caliber Mainstreet
• Dodge Grand Caravan
• Dodge Ram 1500 Crew Cab
• Ford Escape XLT
• Ford F-150 SuperCrew Cab
• GMC Sierra 1500 Crew Cab SLE
• Honda Pilot EX-L
• Kia Sedona LX
• Land Rover Range Rover Sport
• Mercedes-Benz C300
• Mercedes-Benz E350
• Mitsubishi Eclipse Coupe GS
• Mitsubishi Lancer ES
• Toyota Tacoma Extended Cab

Access the full IIHS report.

New crash test dummy has CHOP DNA

February 28, 2012

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has introduced a 10-year-old crash test dummy that will help address the safety needs of 8- to 12-year-olds in car seats and booster seats. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) played a role in the early stages of the dummy’s development by providing real-world crash data from CHOP and State Farm’s Partners for Child Passenger Safety (PCPS) study.

In a 2004 report to NHTSA, CHOP researchers detailed the types and frequencies of motor vehicle crash injuries to children between 9 and 12 years of age and weighing between 60 and 90 pounds. This allowed crash test dummy developers to specify important dummy “body regions” for injury assessment. Next on the agenda is further improving the fidelity of the 6-year-old crash test dummy, which is also informed by PCPS field data. More information about this work can be found in our 2010 CPS Issue Report.

CHOP launches new and improved website for parents and educators

January 9, 2012

Car Seat Safety for Kids website went live today and replaces the popular Keeping Kids Safe During Crashes. This website is a joint effort of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) and the Kohl’s Injury Prevention Program at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. It offers a one-stop resource for child passenger safety (CPS) information.

Parents and CPS educators will appreciate new videos that align with the latest recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). “CPS technicians loved the old videos but they were a little out of step with the 2011 recommendations,” says Gina Duchossois, Trauma Prevention Coordinator. “A generous grant from Kohl’s allowed us to re-film all of the videos, as well as update the voiceover, images and technology.” CPS techs who have used the videos for teaching purposes will find these videos familiar but improved.

“This site brings together research expertise and practical experience,” says Suzanne Hill, director of Advocacy and Outreach at CIRP. “Supporting this site are the research experts behind the AAP recommendations, as well as the Kohl’s Injury Prevention Program’s staff responsible for car seat inspection stations and check-up events across the Philadelphia region.” Funding from Global Automakers allowed these two groups at CHOP to work together to rebuild this site.

Other website enhancements include expert commentary on current car seat safety topics, as well as a section to help expectant parents prepare for that first trip home from the hospital.

Coming online in 2012

Spanish translations for the videos and Web pages, as well as much-anticipated DVDs of all the videos will be available in 2012. DVDs are the most requested item by CPS Techs and we are thrilled to finally be able to provide them.

Toyota and CIRP partner on new pilot study

January 3, 2012

With funding from the Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center, the Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP) at CHOP is working on a final pilot study as part of the National Child Occupant Special Study (NCOSS). Keeping in mind that children are not small adults but have unique safety needs, NCOSS provides a system to collect additional child-focused crash data, using an existing federal database of crashes. This will enable experts to monitor trends, conduct further research and assess the performance of new safety technologies for children.

In this pilot, researchers are testing methods to encourage eligible participants (parents of children involved in crashes) to contribute their experience to NCOSS. At the conclusion of the pilot, CIRP researchers will work with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to implement NCOSS nationally.

Find more information on NCOSS and the pilot study.

Center experts find car seats protect overweight kids, too

November 28, 2011

Recent CHOP research, which looked at nearly 1,000 1- to 8-year-old children in forward-facing safety seats and belt-positioning booster seats involved in crashes, suggests that children are optimally protected in a crash as long as they are restrained according to the most recent recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The results also suggest the current range of restraints available can accommodate a broad spectrum of children's body sizes, including children with higher weights.

Read the New York Times blog post.

New study finds children are safer in crashes when driven by grandparents

July 18, 2011

Children involved in crashes with grandparents behind the wheel are half as likely to be injured as those driven by parents, according to CHOP research published in Pediatrics. The study, funded by the Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies (CChIPS) at CHOP, examined crash data on over 11,000 children from 2003 to 2007. The researchers found that while children are less frequently injured in crashes with their grandparents, their parents are more likely to use child safety restraints correctly.

Read the Time article.

AAP publishes new child passenger safety guidelines for parents

March 21, 2011

The most significant change in AAP’s policy is that children should remain in a rear-facing child safety seat until they’re 2 years old, or until they outgrow the height and weight limits of their current seat, according to CHOP’s Dennis Durbin, MD, MSCE, the lead author of the AAP’s New Child Passenger Safety Guidelines released in Pediatrics.

Read the ABC News article.