Did the child seat industry just pull one over the American public?

That requirement has been law over here in Europe for a couple of years now.

And like you say, you try telling a 12 year old they've got to sit in a booster seat!

The sad thing is, for my job as a cabbie I'm technically breaking the law everytime I take a child under 12 who doesn't sit on/in a suitable child seat. Unless the parents bring a seat with them (unlikely) or I carry a supply of child seats around with me at all times (never gonna happen), then I could end up with a big fine if the Police ever stop me.

It's just a well intentioned but nonsense law from Europe which looks like its now made its way to California.

 

Start them with it and they'll not know anything different.

 

From a safety standpoint, height makes more sense than age. Seatbelts are designed to go across certain parts of the body to properly restrain you... if your too short, the seat belt goes too high, and in an accident, it ends up restricting your throat instead of your chest. Being able to properly adjust the belt to the correct height for children would solve this problem as well. I would vote here for proper restraining systems, where proper is defined in dimensions between the seat and the seatbelt with regards to the height of the person. A booster seat can help with that by raising the height of the seat without changing the belt, while adjusting the belt can solve the same problem without changing the seat. In that case, GrumpyCabbie could easily install an adjustable belt to solve the children issue.

As for sitting in the front... I'm surprised it's still limited based on age and not height. An airbag deployment has to be set up more for certain heights than even seatbelts, and probably is pretty dangerous if your too short. Of course, age also determines certain structural developments (such as the fusion of bones inside a childs head as they grow) that probably affect how airbag deployment affects a person. So, make it a minimum age and height.

 

I think this is definitely true. I was born in 1974 and grew up in the 80's... my friends and I never wore helmets when we biked. People started pushing them as I was in middle school and high school... although you still wouldn't catch any of us in a helmet. But drive through a residential neighborhood today and 99% of the kids on a bike are wearing a helmet. For them it's just what you do.

You'll probably never get this generation of 10 and 12 year olds in booster seats, but 5 or 10 years from now I wouldn't be at all surprised if that's the norm.

 

Yes they did. It's a push to sell more child seats. With an 8 and a 5 year old, I'm not interested in moving car seats back and forth till they are teenagers. My wife is only 5'2. A couple less inches and she'd have to use a booster too! As long as the belt doesn't lay accross the neck, your fine. And those adjustable seat belts have been around for a long time and work good.

 

Honestly, in the near future, I expect all vehicle occupants to have to wear helmets, shoulder harnesses and ALL seating areas would be moulded like a child seat. I don't quite get why safety is only for kids. Sure will make back seat smooching a problem!

 

That second hand smoke study is just about the dumbest study Ive ever seen.
Those 600,000 deaths have nothing to do with daily exposure to air pollution,water pollution,or daily exposure to wood burning fires?
Or daily exposure to pesticides and chemicals.How about poor nutrition,malnourishment.

 

YHGTBSM

Maybe... Baby...

 

There's what the law requires, then there's what safety freak moms want. I'm surprised that there's no mention of weight requirement that article. I think weight requirement weighs heavier than height requirement.

When I was shopping for car seats for my nephew, I made a chart of pretty much all the cars seats available at the time. There are 3 main types and 3 sub types but more popular.
Main Types
Rear facing with 5-point belt
front facing with 5-point belt
Booster seat (backed or backless)
Sub types
Convertible seats (rear facing + front facing with 5-point belt)
Combination seats (front facing with 5-point belt + booster seat)
all in one (rear facing + front facing with 5-point belt + booster seat)
Less popular infant/child carrying devices are infant car beds, pediatric rehabilitation car seat, Orthopedic Positioning car Seat, and children seat belt vests.



Most rear facing seats have 35lb weight limit. Cheap forward facing seats have 40lb weight limit. Most booster seats have 80-100 lb limit.

The safest is of course rear facing seat. A lot of parents will turn the kids around when they're 1 yo, mostly due to infant's feet touching the car's seat back. However, there are some parents out there that rear seat their kits til 4 yo. It is normal and safe even if you're child's feet are touching the car's seat.

Graco MyRide65 has 40lbs rating for rear facing. This video shows the importance of rear facing seat

The next safest is the front facing with 5 point belt. You should keep your kid in a forward facing 5 point car seat even if you or your kid think s/he has outgrown it.
This video shows the importance of a front facing 5-point seat. Youtube deleted the audio and made it dull so I posted the alternate site.
[ame="http://www.vimeo.com/2994502"]The Importance of a 5 point harness car seat on Vimeo[/ame]

Some higher end forward facing seats have higher weight capacity. Here are some just to name a few

Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 65lbs
Sunshine Kids Radian65 65lbs
Sunshine Kids Radian80 80lbs
Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite Convertible (Some are rated at 50lbs, Most are rated at 40lbs)
Eddie Bauer 3-in-1 Convertible Car Seat 50lbs
Britax Frontier Combination Seat 80lbs
Britax Regent 80lbs
Britax Boulevard Click & Safe 65lbs
Britax Boulevard Convertible 65lbs
Britax Decathlon Child Restraint 65lbs
Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seat 65lbs
The Mercedes of all car seats is the recently released Britax Frontier 85 Combination Seat. This is a forward facing seat with 5-point belt that has the weight capacity of 85lbs and up to 4'9" It has booster seat capacity of 120lbs and up to 5'5"

The reason why I listed the seats above because they have capacities far beyond other seats that most parents think their kid has out grown.

As for booster seats, there are several forward facing seats with 5-point seat belt car seats on the market that can match the capacity of a traditional booster seats. There's no reason for booster seats when there's a safer alternative available. Hell, I think the seat belt vest is safer than booster seat because it keeps the car's seat belt firmly in place of the child's body.

If you kid's whining about sitting in a car seat and is afraid of being teased at school, tell your kid that if someone's teasing him/her about it to come back with this... If my mom and your mom play a game chicken with our SUVs, I bet you that I'll live and you'll die because you think sitting in a car seat is lame.

When buying car seats, one fact you must know is Car seats have expiration dates, usually 8 years Some high-end car seats have 10 year service life.

Other facts to consider
Never buy used car seats from someone you don't know, especially from outdoor swap-meet due to sun damage to plastics.
Never buy used car seats with less than half service life left.
Never buy used car seats that was involved in any accidents no matter how small it is.
When buying used car seats from someone you know and trust and know its full history, remove all fabric paddings and belts, visually inspect the plastic frame for cracks, buckles and other plastic hardware for cracks and belts and straps for tears
I'm not sure if this is true but when you return a car seat back to the retailer, the car seat is never resold. It goes back to the manufacturer to be recycled.

I personally think that the new law is over due. If I had it kid, I'm rear facing him/her til s/he exceeds the weight limit of the seat and forward facing 5-point him/her til s/he's in Jr. High.

There are car seat - child safety fanatics out there just like us and our love for the Prius. You can check out Car Seat.Org - Carseat, Vehicle & Child Passenger Safety Forums They have many pictures of 3-4 Y/O in rear facing car seats. And of course discussions regarding the new laws.