Booster seat report ranking seat safety may mislead some parents
A new report published by the Insurance Institute for Highway safety is claiming some are better than others.
A quick shopping trip for Tracy Bostic can turn out to be time consuming when she brings along her kids.
"I have a 7, a 5, a 3 and 7-month-old," she said.
The mother of four uses car seats and booster seats for all her children. The hard part isn't buckling them in, it's finding the right fit.
"It is difficult because my daughter, she's seven and she's kind of tall," Bostic said.
Adding to the stress of finding the perfect seat, is this new report from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety .
It ranks more than 40 popular booster seats that parents can find on store shelves.
Rene Hopkins, the safe kids coordinator for our area says, "Statistically speaking one third of children are in the wrong type of restraint altogether."
Hopkins says the report can be misleading.
"They were using a standard mannequin. That mannequin didn't change its proportions when it was tested from one seat to another," she explained.
New California law increases children's age for booster car seats
Like many other rambunctious 6-year-olds, Carter Kole was looking forward to dumping his booster car seat as a vestige of his ... well, younger days.
California state law allows children by age 6 or 60 pounds to leave behind those cushioned, strapped-in back seats.
But now, Gov. Jerry Brown has done the unthinkable to Carter and young passengers statewide: He pushed booster seat freedom to age 8, or 4 feet 9 inches -- whichever comes first.
"Oh, my gosh,'' said Carter, a forlorn first-grader. "I don't want this new law to be true!''
Even his mother, Kristina Kole -- who likes the new law -- felt sympathetic. "Bummer, huh?'' she told Carter last Friday on his way home from San Jose's Booksin Elementary School.
Carter's angst was echoed by other students at the school but not by many parents, even though most were unaware of the law that goes into effect Jan. 1.
"Just because he's met the age requirement doesn't mean I feel like he should be out of his car booster seat," Kole said. "It's definitely my opinion that he is safer in it.