(Washington, DC – January 2007) Safe Kids Worldwide wants to reassure parents and caregivers that car seats are safe and effective when used according to manufacturers’ instructions.

Every car seat on the market in the United States has passed the same rigorous crash tests required by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Parents should not fear for their children’s safety in cars in response to a recent Consumers Union report raising questions about the performance of infant car seats.

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• Every person riding in a car or truck needs his or her own seat belt. Do not let passengers ride in storage areas or on other people's laps.
• Children should always ride in a back seat restrained in a car seat or safety belt.
• Infants should ride in rear-facing car seats until they weigh  20 lbs (9 kg) and 1 year old. Do not put a rear-facing car seat in the front seat of a vehicle with an active passenger air bag.
• Children over 1 year old and weighing between 20 lbs (9kg) and 40 lbs (18 kg) should ride in forward-facing car seats.
• Children ages 4 to 8 weighing between 40 lbs (18 kg) and 80 lbs (36 kg) should ride in booster seats restrained with lap and shoulder belts. A regular safety belt won't fully protect a child this size in a crash.
• Children and adults weighing over 80 lbs (36kg) should use a safety belt for every ride.

Overview

Motor vehicle injuries are the leading cause of death among children in the U.S. (CDC 2006). But many of these deaths can be prevented. Placing children in age- and size-appropriate restraint systems reduces serious and fatal injuries by more than half (NHTSA 2006b).

Occurrence and Consequences

• In the United States during 2005, 1,451 children ages 14 years and younger died as occupants in motor vehicle crashes, and approximately 203,000 were injured. That’s an average of 4 deaths and 556 injuries each day (NHTSA 2006b).
• Of the children ages 0 to 14 years who were killed in motor vehicle crashes during 2005, nearly half were unrestrained (NHTSA 2006b).

Risk Factors

• One out of four of all occupant deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years involve a drinking driver. More than two-thirds of these fatally injured children were riding with a drinking driver (Shults 2004).
• Restraint use among young children often depends upon the driver’s restraint use. Almost 40% of children riding with unbelted drivers were themselves unrestrained (Cody et al. 2002).
• Child restraint systems are often used incorrectly. One study found that 72% of nearly 3,500 observed child restraint systems were misused in a way that could be expected to increase a child’s risk of injury during a crash (NHTSA 2006c).

Prevention

• Child safety seats reduce the risk of death in passenger cars by 71% for infants, and by 54% for toddlers ages 1 to 4 years (NHTSA 2006b).
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends booster seats for children until they are at least 8 years of age or 4'9" tall (NHTSA 2006d).
• For children 4 to 7 years, booster seats reduce injury risk by 59% compared to safety belts alone (Durbin et al. 2003).
• All children ages 12 years and younger should ride in the back seat. This eliminates the injury risk of deployed front passenger-side airbags and places children in the safest part of the vehicle in the event of a crash. Overall, for children less than 16 years, riding in the back seat is associated with a 40% reduction in the risk of serious injury. Appropriately restrained children ages 13 to 15 who sit in the front seat are not at increased risk for injury (Durbin et al. 2005). To learn more about effective interventions to increase child safety seat use, visit CDC's Motor Vehicle Occupant Safety page.