Facts about Car Seat Injuries:

Motor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of unintentional injury related death. The overall critical misuse for child restraints is about 73 percent. An estimated 85 percent of children who are placed in child safety seats and booster seats are improperly restrained. Children 2 to 5 years of age who are prematurely in seat belts are four times more likely to suffer a serious head injury in a crash than those restrained in child safety seats or booster seats. Child safety seats reduce fatal injury by 71 percent for infants (less than 1 year old) and by 54 percent for toddlers (1 to 4 years old) in passenger cars.

Why Kids Are at Risk:

The bottom line is that how your child rides in your car may be just as important as external factors such as vehicle speed and road conditions.

Riding unrestrained is the single greatest risk factor for death
and injury among child motor vehicle occupants. Among
children ages 14 and under killed as occupants in motor
vehicle crashes in 2002, 50 percent were not using
safety restraints at the time of the collision.

Misuse is common. An estimated 85 percent
of children who are placed in child safety
seats and booster seats are improperly
restrained. Misuse includes but is not
limited to: using an inappropriate seat
for the child's age and size, placing an infant
who is either under 1 year or under 20 pounds
in a forward-facing seat, not securing the seat
tightly in the vehicle and not securing the child
correctly in the seat.

The back seat is safest. It is estimated that children ages 12 and under are up to 36 percent less likely to die in a crash if they are in the rear seat of a passenger vehicle.

Car Seat Statistics:

• Each year, an estimated 2,446 children ages 14 years and under die in motor vehicle incidents.
• In 2005, more than 1,400 child occupants (ages 0-14) died in motor vehicle crashes and nearly half were unrestrained.
• In 2005, more than 203,000 child
  occupants were injured.
• Among children ages 14 and under killed
  as occupants in motor vehicle crashes
  in 2002, 50 percent were not using safety restraints at the time of the collision.
• As of January 2004, 141 children have
  been killed by passenger air bags.
• Most crashes (75 percent) occur within
  25 miles of home. The majority also
  occur on roads with posted speed limits
  of 40 mph or less.

Facts about Car Seat Injuries:

What is the safest way to transport my child in a vehicle seat?

• Any safety seat must be installed and used according to the manufacturer's instructions
  and your vehicle owner's manual.
• Infants should ride in rear facing safety seats as long as possible; until they are at least
  12 months old and weigh at least 20 pounds.
• Children who are at least 1-year-old, weigh 20-40 pounds, and can no longer ride rear-facing
  should ride in forward facing child safety seats.
• Children over 40 pounds should be correctly secured in belt positioning boosters or other
  appropriate child restraints until the adult lap and shoulder belts fit correctly (around age 8).
• Once the vehicle safety belts fit children, both lap and shoulder belts should be correctly used.
• Children 12 and under should be properly restrained in the back seat.

When can I turn my infant forward facing?

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recently revised their recommendations to say that children should ride in rear-facing child safety seats as long as possible. They also maintain that children should be a MINIMUM of 12 months old AND weigh at least 20 pounds before they face the front of the vehicle. Until that time, their bones and ligaments are not developed enough to withstand forward-facing crash forces. The rear-facing position reduces the risk of spinal cord injury in a frontal collision, since the safety seat's shell supports the neck and spreads crash forces across the entire back. Most infant-only seats have a limit of 20 or 22 pounds, but most current convertible safety seats have rear-facing limits of 30 pounds or more. These seats provide better protection for children, even beyond their first birthdays.

Why do you recommend booster seats for children up to age 8?

While most families are used to the idea of keeping kids in safety seats until they are around 4 years old, many are not aware that children need safety seats much longer than that. Vehicle safety belts are designed to protect adults and older children, and they must fit correctly to provide that function.

Looking at current vehicle designs, child growth patterns/charts, and general lessons learned through observation, many advocates have concluded that vehicle safety belts don't fit until kids are 8, 9, 10 or even 11 years old. As a result of this fact, combined with the fact that boosters are not yet widely used, we see a great number of serious (and fatal) injuries to children. Internal organ and spinal column injuries often result from improper belt fit.

Where can I receive more child safety seat information?

There are several good resources available for additional and up-to-date information on properly restraining children:
American Academy of Pediatrics >
Safe Kids Worldwide >