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Ford Motor Company Applauds 'Buckle Up America' - Warns Public Not to Overlook Children Who Should Ride in Booster Seats

23 May 2000

Ford Motor Company Applauds 'Buckle Up America' - Warns Public Not to Overlook Children Who Should Ride in Booster Seats

    WASHINGTON, May 22 The following statement is attributable
to Helen Petrauskas, vice president, Environmental and Safety Engineering:

    "This week is Buckle Up America Week, and Ford Motor Company salutes this
national effort to promote the use of safety belts and child restraint
systems.  As part of Buckle Up America Week, and throughout the rest of the
year, we must not overlook children who are too big for typical safety seats
yet still too small for adult-sized safety belts alone.

    The government estimates that 20 million children ages four to eight ride
in motor vehicles either unprotected or they use adult-sized seats and safety
belts that do not fit properly -- these children should ride in booster seats.
Even parents who take care to put their small children in safety belts may not
realize that their children need boosters.  Children weighing over 40 pounds
belong in a booster seat until they are tall enough so their legs hand down
when they sit all the way back against the seat back (generally, about age 8
or about eighty pounds).  Booster seats help to ensure the safety belts aren't
positioned over the stomach or across the neck.  Used correctly, a booster
seat improves both safety and comfort by ensuring the safety belt is
positioned low across the thighs and directly across the chest and shoulder.
    
 To close the safety gap on behalf of these children, Ford Motor Company,
joined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and others in the
safety community, created the Boost America! campaign to educate parents and
caregivers about the need for booster seat use.  To spread lifesaving safety
messages far and wide, Boost America! is contacting every pre-school,
elementary school, day care center and pediatrician's office in the nation.
Later this fall, Ford Motor Company will jump start this educational effort by
giving away one million booster seats, with half going to families in need.

    Children are our most precious cargo on the road and they look to adults
to ensure their protection.  To help keep this unspoken promise, efforts like
Buckle Up America Week and Boost America! can educate motorists, increase
booster seat use and save lives

    For details about proper booster seat use and for information on the Boost
America! campaign, parents and caregivers are encouraged to visit
http://www.boostamerica.org.