Seat Belt Safety Study -Kids Car Seats Tests and Study

From: Lance ( Auto Care Forums and Vehicle Research)
Date: 15 Jun 2003
Time: 02:25:18
Remote Name: 66.82.52.200

Comments

Recently there has been much talk about kids car seats. I was fortunate enough to have a meeting with a young PR person in Fort Collins CO who was working with the Police and Fire Department for their annual car seat safety inspection campaign where they would inspect your car seat and children to see if it was appropriate and safe. http://www.co.larimer.co.us/health/ed/injuryprev.asp If not they would trade in your car seat for a brand new one. Why? Because it saves lives. We were going to participate by giving a free wash to anyone who showed up. They were unable to figure out the logisitics in time but realized it was a good idea for the following year. Ever since we have been trying to figure out ways to help our clientele with their most precious commodity and the future of our Nation, our youth, specifically the youngest of our population the tiny boppers. In the age of large SUVs which at 6000 lbs. if you are in a Honda car you had better be wearing a seatbelt and have your kid strapped in tight and safe. Also those larger SUVs do not drive that well on their roofs and so far only Volvo has been testing roof airbags in case of rollovers. I'll discuss that later. Here is a recent very good article on Safety Seats for kids; http://www.americanplasticscouncil.org/benefits/in_your_life/safekids/carseats.html ----- http://www.msnbc.com/news/924858.asp ------ http://moneycentral.msn.com/articles/insure/basics/7552.asp ------- We learned a lot about these issues and had understood that a s part of the free safety inspection in CO and apparently this is a nationwide endeavor, that the parents would recieve free training as to how to best secure their baby from becoming a human torpedo or missile during a collision. The stories we have heard from rescue and ambulance personal are so said they make you cry, the trajecdies of kids flying through the front windshield and snapping their necks on impact as they leave the vehicle all because of improper use of a safety seat or poor design. http://www.parents-talk.com/expertsadvice/ea_fs_0004.html ----- http://www.car-safety.org/links2.html ------ At the Washguys, we are constantly vacuuming in and around these seats, many times they are lose and improperly ties down using the safety belt as the anchor. I would estimate the improper useage of safety seats is about 25% to 35%, although I am told it is much higher, due to the complicated instructions or that the instructions have been thrown out many years ago as the hand me down car seat is still in use on it's fifth car, or perhaps was hastily fit into another car and never secrured properly. Improperly secrured safety seats are easier to vacuum because they are easy to manipulate and move around, but a properly fitted safety seat should be firm and have no play in it (pun intended). Automotive detailers when detailing a car should alert the owners if they could not figure out how to resecure it after steam cleaing the unit itself and the seat under it, so that the parent can reapply it's anchor points properly for it's intended use. Some of these seats go backwards, so forwards, they all work pretty well many better than others, but none of them work if installed improperly. http://www.detailguys.com think about it. http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/consumertips/tips_carseats.html ------- http://www.consumersearch.com/www/family/infant_car_seats/ ------- http://www.babycenter.com/premium/reports/current/rating10/rating10.html ---- 10 times as many kids die each year from improper car seat useage or from no car seat than the entire number of people killed in the NYC Twin Towers, think about it. --------- Kids and cars are part of everyday American life, make sure the mix is right and pay attention to the small things too: http://www.saturnftcollins.com/trunk.html Teach your kids to respect the automobile as it gives them a lifetime of service. We want them to grow up to buy their own cars so we can wash them and maybe even hire them as their first real job. http://www.washguy.com/mt/jobs.shtml

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