CPS in the News

To read past news items visit the archives here

Should Adults Use Add-Ons to Adjust Safety Belt Positioning?  There are products on the market which claim to improve belt fit for pregnant women. With data from a study using pictograms, researchers found that only 3.5% of North American women were wearing their safety belts correctly during pregnancy. We want to share the response we received with its picture of a real crash-test dummy.

Update on “Killer Car Seats” – 11/7/19  Groupon advertised a half-price special on “U.S.A.-made car seats,” but it was the same fabric products that generated “killer car seat” headlines in February. This time Child Passenger Safety Technicians bombarded Groupon; the ad disappeared. And one of these products arrived at a safety seat checkup in California!! Download the flyer with a photo of a side-impact crash test of a similar product and share it.
‘Killer car seats’ sold online for £8 Children’s car seats, dubbed “killers” by trading standards officers, have repeatedly appeared for sale on online marketplaces, Which? has warned. The consumer group said the fabric seats, which can cost as little as £8, offered almost no protection in a crash and were illegal to use in the UK. The online sites – Amazon, eBay and AliExpress – all said they had removed the seats from sale. But Which? said the listings should have been deleted quicker.
 The Child Passenger Safety Movement in the United States: This document was originally prepared as a background paper for The Bridgespan Group in 9/2016 by Stephanie Tombrello, Deborah Stewart, Denise Donaldson, and Joe Colella. This version has been edited and enhanced by Stephanie Tombrello and Deborah Stewart and published by SafetyBeltSafe U.S.A., 9/2017.

See how child passenger safety fits into the Harvard Business Review article on how donors should assess programs and conversely, how advocates can design booster law campaigns & funding requests. http://www.bridgespan.org/car-seats https://www.bridgespan.org/audacious-philanthropy-download

Proper Top-Tether Installation Helps Keep Kids Safer in Child Car Seats This simple step provides significant safety benefits. Consumer Reports’ own car-seat crash testing shows that top-tether use can significantly reduce the forward movement of a child in a frontal crash, thereby reducing a child’s risk for injury, especially to the head.

Consumers Union released findings on four products which reached only the BASIC level of their safety ratings due to breakage in tests at 35 mph on an updated crash bench with a frontal blocker. The tests are about 40% more powerful than FMVSS 213 testing. Do not remove a child from any of these seats unless there is an appropriate seat available. Use as a booster only if the child fits, weighs 40 lbs. or more, and can manage the safety belt correctly. Finally, a different seat may be in order if the youngster requires a seat with a full harness for adequate protection. Be sure to tether such seats! CU states that a second impact might compromise the seats more; they mean a second impact within the initial crash event, a common aspect of car crashes. https://www.consumerreports.org/toddler-booster-seats/child-car-seats-from-britax-cosco-harmony-break-in-consumer-reports-tests/