Children

Child restraints & booster seats

Booster seat evaluations — our ratings take the guesswork out of selecting boosters most likely to provide good lap and shoulder belt fit in a range of vehicles

Keeping children safe in crashes — choose the right type of restraint for your child; included photos and videos

Fatality Facts: Children

Q&As

Child passenger safety

Backover crashes

Power windows and child safety

State laws

Safety belt and child restraint laws

Consumer video available for purchase

Keeping children safe in crashes — More than 1,000 children 12 and younger die in passenger vehicle crashes every year, and more than 100,000 are injured. Parents can reduce the risk to their kids by properly securing them in the back seats. This video helps parents choose the right kind of restraint for a child's age and size and provides general information on installation and use. Also available online as 5 streaming segments

Research paper

Vehicle LATCH system features associated with correct child restraint installations; Kathleen D. Klinich, Carol A.C. Flannagan, Jessica S. Jermakian, Anne T. McCartt, Miriam A. Manary, Jamie L. Moore, JoAnn K. Wells, April 2012

Selected research bibliography

Highlights from the Institute's research since 1969

News releases

October 25, 2012 Boosters improve: Most new seats provide good belt fit; two Safety 1st models are not recommended as boosters

April 12, 2012 Vehicle seat designs make child restraint installation difficult; less than a quarter of models surveyed have easy-to-use LATCH

October 13, 2011 New booster evaluations: More top-rated seats help parents make a safe choice for their kids

September 8, 2010 New booster ratings: 21 BEST BETs and 7 GOOD BETs; 8 out of 72 seats evaluated aren't recommended

December 22, 2009 New booster ratings: 9 BEST BETs & 6 GOOD BETs; 11 out of 60 seats evaluated aren't recommended

October 1, 2008 Many booster seats aren't up to the job of improving safety belt fit for children

June 11, 2003 LATCH systems for child restraints aren't always a snap; not every child restraint will work in every vehicle

December 20 , 2000 Best & worst state traffic safety laws: some states do a better job than others

March 30, 1999 Despite warnings, many children still ride unrestrained or in the front seat

December 14, 1998 Black and Hispanic children, teenagers at high risk of motor vehicle crash death

June 27, 1997 With or without airbags, children are safer when they ride restrained in back

Status Report newsletter special issues

Vol 43, No. 8, October 1, 2008: Special issue: booster seats

Vol. 42, No. 5, May 12, 2007: Special issue: one day of crashes — the stories of some of the 119 people killed in crashes on June 7, 2005

Vol. 35, No. 10 December 20, 2000: Special issue: state traffic safety laws — includes information on child restraint use

Vol. 34, No. 8, October 2, 1999: Special issue: child safety: Many doctors aren't counseling parents and other caregivers about child safety in motor vehicles • Lots of children still ride unrestrained, and too many of them are in front seats • Restraining older children is the subject of a blue ribbon panel convened by the US Department of Transportation • School bus safety is the focus of a two-year research program

Status Report newsletter articles

Vol. 47, No. 8, October 25, 2012: Boosters reach milestone; Nearly all new seats provide good belt fit

Vol. 47, No. 7, September 20, 2012: U.S. surface transportation reauthorization law includes provisions for LATCH, belt reminders, teen driver laws and impaired driving research

Vol. 47, No. 3, April 12, 2012: LATCH would be easier to use if automakers followed 3 key principles • Seat designs that interfere with easy child restraint installations • Parents describe common struggles with installing child restraints

Vol. 46, No. 9, October 13, 2011: More boosters are doing a good job of fitting safety belts to kids in the latest round of seat evaluations • Unique inflatable booster seat earns a BEST BET designation • Strong child restraint laws help to reduce crash injuries and lift use of boosters and child restraints

Vol. 46, No. 7, August 18, 2011: Children should ride rear-facing until they're at least 2 years old, new guidelines recommend

Vol. 45, No. 9, September 8, 2010: Booster evaluations for 2010

Vol. 44, No. 11, December 22, 2009: Which booster is best? — new recommendations

Vol. 44, No. 6, June 11, 2009: Child seats don't fit the same in all vehicles, so automakers are urged to recommend good ones for their models

Vol. 43, No. 10, November 25, 2008: New school buses must have higher seat backs, and small buses have to have shoulder belts in addition to lap belts under a new federal rule

Vol. 43, No. 9, October 22, 2008: Child safety seat use in crashes has increased during the past decade

Vol. 43, No. 7, September 9, 2008: Pregnant women should buckle up to help protect their fetuses

Vol. 43, No. 5, July 1, 2008: Power windows can seriously injure or kill young children whose heads, arms, or other body parts get trapped, a Q&A reveals • Backover crashes often happen when SUV drivers don't see toddlers behind their vehicles

Vol. 40, No. 8, September 28, 2005: NHTSA won't rate child restraints based on dynamic performances

Vol. 38, No. 9, September 25, 2003: State legislative update: child restraints

Vol. 38, No. 5, June 11, 2003: LATCH rules are helping, but not solving, child restraint installation problems • When restrained infants and children die in crashes, it usually isn't because their restraints failed • Top tethers on child restraints were used only about half of the time before LATCH rules and aren't in use more often now

Vol. 38, No. 2, February 8, 2003: Booster seats are the subject of a new federal law that tells NHTSA to define boosters and set standards

Vol. 37, No. 6, June 8, 2002: HyperG sled acquisition launches new Institute testing programs

Vol. 37, No. 3, March 16, 2002: Some state licensing and DUI/DWI laws have been strengthened, but no safety belt laws have been changed to primary

Vol. 36, No. 2, February 17, 2001: First child restraint attachments offered under new federal requirements don't necessarily secure seats snugly

Vol. 35, No. 4, April 15, 2000: Durability of child restraints is proven in crash tests conducted at both high and low speeds • Nonuse of child restraints still is the biggest threat to safety

Vol. 34, No. 1, January 16, 1999: Child safety seats will be easier to install under NHTSA's new regulation calling for uniform attachments • New attachments for child seats • Black and Hispanic children and teens are at high risk of dying in crashes

Vol. 33, No. 3, April 4, 1998: Airbag switches sought by people who transport kids in front

Vol. 32, No. 9, November 29, 1997: Kids safer restrained in back in vehicles with and without passenger airbags • Child seats soon may be simpler to place in the back due to fixed attachment points

Advisories

September 2004 NHTSA shifts policy on child restraint replacement

September 1999 Despite new California law, no need to replace child seats after most crashes

November 1996 Addressing the risks from airbag inflation for infants, children, and short drivers

Regulatory comments

Comment to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning inclusion of belt fit assessment for booster seats in agency's proposed new consumer information program for child restraints (Docket No. NHTSA-2010-00062), April 22, 2011

Comment to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning agency's study on booster seat effectiveness and the need for more detailed, representative child-specific crash data to evaluate child restraint systems (Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0145), March 8, 2011

Comment to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning proposed changes to rearview mirror standard requiring rearview video systems to monitor blind zone areas and specifying the size and position of directly viewable areas behind vehicles (Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0162), January 31, 2011

Comment to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning proposed changes to child restraint systems standard to include belt fit criteria for belt positioning booster seats (Docket No. NHTSA-2010-0158), January 24, 2011

Comment to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning occupant crash protection, child restraint systems, and child restraint anchorage systems (Docket No. NHTSA-2008-0149), November 12, 2008

Comment to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning the extension of FMVSS 213 to restraints recommended for children up to 80 pounds (Docket No. NHTSA-2005-21245), October 31, 2005

Comment to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213; Child Restraint Systems, Side Impact Protection for Restrained Children (Docket No. NHTSA 02-12151), August 22, 2002

Comment to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning revisions to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213, Child Restraint Systems (Docket No. NHTSA 02-11707), July 1, 2002

Comment to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning the rating program for child restraint systems (Docket No. NHTSA 2001-10053, Notice 1), January 7, 2002

Comment to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning the use and effectiveness of child booster seats (Docket No. NHTSA 2001-10359), September 27, 2001

Testimony

Statement before the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Foreign Commerce, and Tourism of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Child restraints and booster seats, Adrian K. Lund, April 24, 2001; attachment: Status Report, Vol. 35, No. 10, December 20, 2000