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Booster
seats
Properly used booster seats can help protect children
weighing between about 40 lbs. and 80 lbs. (18 kg and 36
kg) who are less than
4
ft.
9
in. tall.
Fig. 242 Rear seat:
child properly
restrained in a booster
seat
The vehicle's safety belts alone will not fit most children
until they are at least 4 ft. 9 in. tall and weigh about 80 lbs.
(36 kgl. Booster seats raise these children up so that the
safety belt will pass properly over the stronger parts of their
bodies and the safety belt can help protect them in a crash.
-
Do not use the convertible locking retractor when using
the vehicle's safety belt to restrain a child on a booster
seat .
- Always posit ion the shoulder portion of the safety belt
midway over the child's shoulder.
- Always make sure that the shoulder portion of the safety
belt never rests against or across the child's neck.
- Always make sure that the child can properly wear the
lap port ion of the belt low across the thighs or pelvis and
never over the stomach or abdomen.
Child Safety
Children up to about 40 lbs (18 kg) are best protected in child safety
seats designed for their age and weight. Experts say that the skel-
etal structure, particularly the pelvis, of these children is not fully
developed, and they should not use the vehicle safety belts
=>
page 251, fig. 242.
Children who weigh more than 40 lbs. (18 kg) may generally use the
available three point combination
lap and shoulder belts when they
sit on an appropriate booster seat. Be sure the booster seat meets
all applicable safety standards.
Booster seats raise the seating position of the child and reposition
both the lap and shoulder parts of the safety belt so that they pass
across the child's body in the right places. The routing of the belt
over the child's body is very important for the child's protection.
This applies whenever a child uses the vehicle's safety belts, even
when the child is big enough to use them without a booster seat.
Children age 12 and under should always ride in the rear seat .
Children should not ride in the front seat unless no other seating
position is available because crash statistics show that children are
better protected in the rear seat.
In a crash, airbags must inflate within a blink of an eye and with
considerable force . In order to do its job, the airbag needs room to
inflate so that it will be there to protect the occupant as the occu -
pant moves forward into the airbag.
A vehicle occupant including a child who is out of position and too
close to the airbag gets in the way of an inflating airbag. When an
occupant is too close, he or she will be struck violently and will
receive serious or possibly even fatal injury.
In order for the airbag to offer protection, it is important that all
vehicle occupants, especially any children, who must be in the front
seat in exceptional circumstances, be properly restrained and as far
away from the airbag as possible. By keeping room between the
child's or other occupant's body and the front of the passenger
compartment,
the airbag can inflate fully and completely and
provide supplemental
protection in certain frontal crashes.
_.,
Vehicle care
I
I
irechnical data
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