For parents, the moment you’re ready to bring your child home from the hospital begins many years ahead of, choosing, installing and using child safety seats to protect your most precious cargo. And with that responsibility comes questions. Which seat manufacturer should you go with? Is your child’s current seat the right one? Is age the biggest factor in determining which seat your child needs? When is it time to move up to the next seat configuration? How do you know when a seat is installed correctly? It can be bewildering and, as your child grows older, sometimes a bit confrontational when they decide they’re just too old for their current safety seat. But knowing the facts saves lives.
To underscore nationally the importance of child seat use and safety, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration dedicated Sept. 14-18 as National Child Passenger Safety Week. Reinforcing that message, FCA US invited employees to participate in a Child Passenger Safety Seat Awareness event in the company’s Auburn Hills Tech Center, where the company’s chief child safety seat spokesperson walked them through the significant mistakes parents and caregivers often make in installing and using car and booster seats.
Here’s what the most recent NHTSA car seat data shows :
- Car seats reduce the risk of infant fatalities in cars by 71%.
- Car seats reduce the risk of toddler fatalities in cars by 54%.
- Car seats reduce infant and toddler fatalities in SUVs, pickups and vans by 58% and 59% respectively.
Those same statistics paint a much grimmer picture for children riding unrestrained:
- 55% of children 12 years old and under were killed riding in SUVs.
- 43% were killed riding in light-trucks.
- 40% were killed riding in vans.
- 24% were killed riding in passenger cars.
