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People, I know how silly your child looks and feels when he or she weighs 60+ pounds and is 4' tall to use a booster seat BUT let me tell ya' a little story and you both might change your minds.
A co-worker's wife was taking her children to school one morning. The 4 year old in her car seat and the 7 year old in a regular seat and seat belt BUT had the shoulder belt behind her back. You know how they do this because they are too short and the belt hits their neck? Right. A woman crossed over to their lane and they were involved in a head on collision. The younger child was pretty much ok but the older girl had some big problems. She had major damage to her internal organs and her spine was broken. Her lower colon had to be removed and her spine was operated on. Imagine that at 7 years old. We are thankful she lived but she will be in pain for quite some time and all this could have been avoided if she had been in a booster seat. Another thing, the policeman said that IF she had been wearing her belt across her chest her neck could have been broken because of her height and the way the shoulder belt fit. Either way, it was a terrible thing.
Please, this is a true story. Don't let this happen to your child or someone you know. It can be avoided.
Here is a great link for car seat info by state provided by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:
JAMA. 2003;289:2835-2840. Context Although more than a dozen states have ratified laws that require booster seats for children older than 4 years, most states continue to have child restraint laws that only cover children through age 4 years. Lack of booster seat effectiveness data may be a barrier to passage of stronger child restraint laws. Objectives To quantify the association of belt-positioning booster seats compared with seat belts alone and risk of injury among 4- to 7-year-old children and to assess patterns of injury among children in booster seats vs seat belts. Design, Setting, and Population Cross-sectional study of children aged 4 to 7 years in crashes of insured vehicles in 15 states, with data collected via insurance claims records and a telephone survey. A probability sample of 3616 crashes involving 4243 children, weighted to represent 56 593 children in 48 257 crashes was collected between December 1, 1998, and May 31, 2002. Main Outcome Measure Parent report of clinically significant injuries. Results Injuries occurred among 1.81% of all 4- to 7-year-olds, including 1.95% of those in seat belts and 0.77% of those in belt-positioning booster seats. The odds of injury, adjusting for child, driver, crash, and vehicle characteristics, were 59% lower for children aged 4 to 7 years in belt-positioning boosters than in seat belts (odds ratio, 0.41; 95% confidence interval, 0.20-0.86). Children in belt-positioning booster seats had no injuries to the abdomen, neck/spine/back, or lower extremities, while children in seat belts alone had injuries to all body regions. Conclusion Belt-positioning booster seats were associated with added safety benefits compared with seat belts to children through age 7 years, including reduction of injuries classically associated with improper seat belt fit in children.
While a booster seat is the legal and recommended way to go there are seats availble out there for oversized kids that have the 5 pt harnesses. They are also VERY expensive. So how much do yall care about your kids? Do you care about them enough to buy the Volvo of child seats? LOL
I may get to buy one of these soon as both my younger kids are way above the 100 percentile growth chart. And my wife is very insistant on getting 'the very best' for our children.....gah...
I also think that car manufactures could do better with seatbelt designs in the back seats of cars. Making the shoulder belt adjustable makes a BIG different in how it fits kids. My 13 year old would JUST be getting out of a booster seat at the 80 lb recommendation-there is no way a 7th grader is going to ride in a booster seat!
I've known people to pull their little ones out of car seats just because they meet the minimum criteria to fit a booster seat. My husband was talking about that the other day - about wanting to do that, because I guess booster seats are gentler on the car. A quick conversation changed his mind and our kid is staying with that 5-point harness as long as possible. Basically, many people assume that the products they purchase in stores are always safe and that if someone meets minimum criteria, then it's all good. But, come on, how can a shoulder strap be better than a 5-point harness? That's why the race car drivers wear them.
We have a seat that uses a 5-point harness up to 65 pounds, but they make them now that even go up to 80!
People say that kids will not want to stay in the seat when they are older, but if that's all they know, then maybe they won't mind so much. For example, people say the same thing about kids not "wanting" to be rear-facing anymore. My daughter is 2 and still rear-facing and will be for a good while yet (she's only 21 pounds!). She doesn't know anything else, so why would she complain?
One point that often gets over looked is that if your child is under 4'9", then they really need to be in a booster seat that puts them at a height for which the car's seat belt is intended. The age and weight become less significant if you are tall enough for a good fit. That's the intended reason for booster seats...to raise the child up.
My son is 7 and is in a booster... he outgrew his Britax Marathon by height last year when he was 6 1/2... he is still nowhere near 65 lbs though! My daughter, 5, is still harnessed in her Marathon. They will both be in the seats that are safest for them until they are 4'9" and the seatbelt fits them properly.
Three years ago, we were in a rollover car accident. All of us were properly restrained and all of us walked away. The EMTs were pleasantly shocked to see no injuries other than minor cuts from broken glass... they said that if my kids (then 4 and 2) were not PROPERLY harnessed, they probably would not have survived. To give you an idea, all of my belongings were scattered in about a 20-foot diameter circle around where the van flipped several times.
They both know how to be as safe as possible in the car, and even my 7 year old has never once questioned having to be in a booster, whether his friends are or not (and many of them still are). It's what they are used to, and what they think is negotiable. In our house, safety issues are non-negotiable, it's not a democracy... what mom and dad say goes, period.
One point that often gets over looked is that if your child is under 4'9", then they really need to be in a booster seat that puts them at a height for which the car's seat belt is intended. The age and weight become less significant if you are tall enough for a good fit. That's the intended reason for booster seats...to raise the child up.
I know a lot of adults that still need boosters according to this! I can imagine driving up to take your license test in a booster seat--that would go over well.
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