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Universal Child Safety Seat Attachment Requirement

29 February 1999

Statement By Philip W. Haseltine, President, American Coalition for Traffic Safety and Moderator, Blue Ribbon Panel on Child Restraint and Vehicle Compatibility Regarding Universal Child Safety Seat Attachment Requirement, February 27, 1999

    ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 27 -- The following is a statement by
Philip W. Haseltine, President, American Coalition for Traffic Safety and
Moderator, Blue Ribbon Panel on Child Restraint and Vehicle Compatibility:

    President Clinton's announcement requiting a universal system for
attaching child safety seats will make restraining children easier, and ensure
a safer ride for our most precious resource. And thankfully, parents will no
longer have to struggle with securing a child safety seat into a vehicle.
    The government's standard will solve a problem created by a plethora of
different styles of child safety seats, vehicle seats and safety belts that
make correctly securing a child safety seat difficult and sometimes
impossible. It is currently estimated that 85 percent or more of child
restraints are not properly installed. The new uniform attachment system will
reduce the risk of injury from improperly installed child safety seats, and
encourage more parents to use them.
    This regulation is the outgrowth of a recommendation made by the Blue
Ribbon Panel on Child Restraint and Vehicle Compatibility in May 1995. Panel
members, comprised of automobile, child restraint and seat belt manufacturers,
physicians and child passenger safety advocates, recommended the creation of a
universal attachment system as the best long range solution to take the
guesswork out of securing child safety seats in motor vehicles.
    The President's announcement brings to the marketplace the fruits of three
and a half years of hard labor which started with the Blue Ribbon Panel's
recommendation and continued with engineering innovations by vehicle and child
safety seat manufacturers.
    An important aspect of the rule is a change in the head excursion
requirement in crash tests of forward-facing child safety seats. This will
result in the addition of a tether strap to secure the top of the child safety
seat to the vehicle. The tether strap can eliminate compatibility problems in
many existing vehicles and result in secure child safety seat installations.
    In anticipation of this new rule, child safety seat manufacturers have
already begun producing seats with tether straps and attachment hardware. Most
vehicles built in the past decade have attachment points for tether hardware.
Some vehicle manufacturers currently provide attachment hardware through their
dealers at no cost. Parents and caregivers should check their vehicle owners
manual for attachment point and hardware information. New vehicles will be
required to have the hardware pre-installed.