Older Kids Often Forgotten in Child Passenger Safety

Auto Dealers Urge Parents to Use Booster Seats for Their Older Children Before Hitting the Roads This Holiday Weekend

MCCLEAN, Va., Feb. 13 -- As millions of Americans hit the roads this President's Day weekend, the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) urges parents to protect the safety of their older children by placing them in booster seats.

Studies show that older children aged four to eight (weighing between 40 and 80 pounds and up to four-feet, nine-inches tall) are rarely buckled up properly in the family vehicle. That's significant, because traffic crashes are the number one cause of death for children.

Booster seats are necessary to lift older kids up to a height that allows the vehicle's shoulder and lap belts to fit properly and safely. Less than 10 percent of children who should be in booster seats are actually belted in properly, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

To raise public awareness of the importance of booster seats, NADA has joined with NHTSA in a campaign to promote child passenger safety.

For more information on child seat safety, visit http://www.nada.org/safety or http://www.nhtsa.gov/ .

Safety Administration