If there’s one thing I focus on advocating in this car seat blog, it’s extended rear-facing. However, after rear-facing and forward-facing comes boostering, and just as the majority of parents stop rear-facing and start forward-facing too soon, or stop forward-facing and start boostering too soon, the majority of parents also stop boostering and start allowing their children to ride using nothing but adult seat belts far too soon. And as in the other cases, this can have disastrous consequences for the safety of our little ones. Here is a guide to answer the question of when children can stop using booster seats, and when it’s safe to start using the adult seat belt and seat in a vehicle.

My State Says It’s Okay at 8 (7, 6, 5…etc).

Yes, all states have laws on when it’s okay to use the adult seat belt, and all states are wrong on this. Most states don’t have any limits on when children can sit in the front seat either, even though best practices suggests keeping them in the back until at least 13. The ages set by states are too young, and put children needlessly at risk of serious injuries or deaths from being improperly restrained in collisions. Sound familiar? This is exactly the situation we’re facing with rear-facing age requirements and forward-facing harnessed age requirements. Don’t stop at the law; it doesn’t go far enough.

What about the NHTSA Recommendation?

The NHTSA recommendation, that children between 8 and 12 years old keep using boosters until they have good seat belt fit, which is typically around 4’9″, or 57″, is a much better recommendation to follow. However, in a number of cases, the 4’9″ suggestion won’t be enough. A much better guide to follow is the 5 step test, which is far more thorough and not likely to put any children in adult seat belts who aren’t ready for them.

What’s the 5 Step Rule?

The 5 Step Rule is a simple, yet extremely effective way of figuring out whether or not a child is ready to use an adult seat belt. If a child is ready to use an adult seat belt, he or she will be able to meet *all* of these rules. Here they are:

1.) The shoulder belt should sit directly in the middle of the child’s shoulder.

2.) The lap belt should sit low on the child’s thighs.

3.) The child’s bottom should be located at the intersection of the lower and upper vehicle seats.

4.) The child’s knees should not bend until they are past the bottom seat’s edge, and the child’s feet should rest flat on the floor.

5.) The child should be able to sit in this position for as long as the vehicle is in motion without moving.

All of these factors need to be present for a child to be ready to use an adult seat belt, regardless of the child’s height. That means that if a child is 4’10” but can’t pass rule 4 with feet on the floor, or rule 3 with sitting with the bottom directly against the intersection of the seat, or rule 5 with good posture all the time, that child is not ready for the adult seat belt. This may occur with a child above 4’9″ because the child isn’t mature enough to sit well (rule 5) or simply because the child’s proportions are in such a way that, relative to the rules, their bodies just aren’t ready yet.

It might sound like a lot of rules to keep in mind, but these rules are designed to keep children safe, which is reason enough to learn them and think twice about putting a child in an adult seat belt if s/he can’t meet them.

What Happens if My Child Can’t Meet All of These Rules?

If your child can’t meet all of these rules, there’s nothing wrong with him or her; s/he just needs a booster seat. Booster seats are easy to use and available in a range of budgets. Keep in mind that the 4’9″ recommendation refers to a child who, at the 50th percentile by height, is going to be 11 years old. An 11 year old is several years older than the 8 year old that most states say is old enough to use a seat belt. And we’ve just discussed how 4’9″ might not be enough height for every child due to differences in proportions. Many children aren’t going to be ready for adult seat belts via application of the 5 step test until they’re 5’0″, which is the 50th percentile for a 12 year old.

And that’s okay.

What Are the Best Booster Seats?

In my opinion, two of the best booster seats on the market are actually combination seats: the Britax Frontier and Pinnacle. They both have the highest shoulder height limits at 23″ and the highest weight limits at 120 pounds, which means that children will have the greatest odds of reaching an age where they’ll pass the 5 step test in these two seats. If they’re out of budget, however, any of the booster seats I recommend here are worth looking at. What’s important is that you booster your children until they’re truly ready for adult seat belts; they’re worth more than the minimum requirements of the law.

You can buy the Frontier 90 and buy the Pinnacle here.

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The other day, I wrote about How To and Why Tether When Forward Facing Car Seats? However, there’s a bit more to learn about tethering, including the fact that certain convertible car seats can be tethered while rear-facing! Today, I’ll talk about how to do so and why you’d potentially want to consider it.

You Can Tether Rear-Facing? 

Yes! While the majority of convertible car seats cannot currently be tethered rear-facing in the United States, four manufacturers are more forward-thinking and have made this possible. As of July 2014, those manufacturers are Britax, Diono, Combi, and Peg Perego. These are the only manufacturers of seats that can potentially be tethered rear-facing, and only a few of their seats can actually be tethered in this fashion. If your seat isn’t on this list, don’t do this, and simply focus on tethering when forward-facing when the time is right.

Which Current Car Seats Allow Tethering while Rear-Facing?

Britax – Advocate, Boulevard, Highway, Marathon, Pavilion, and Roundabout.
Combi – Coccoro.
Diono – Radian R100, Radian R120, Radian RXT, Rainier, Pacifica, and Olympia.
Peg Perego – Primo Viaggio Convertible.

What Options Exist for Rear-Facing Tethering?

There are two approaches to tethering while rear-facing: Swedish style and Australian style. The Swedish style is more commonly used in Sweden, the rest of Europe, Canada, and the United States, while the Australian method is favored in Australia. In the diagram to the left, the Swedish method is shown in image B, while the Australian method is shown in image A. In the Swedish method, the tether is attached to the car seat behind the top of the seat and attached to the vehicle at an anchor in the floor to the front of the seat, such as to the rail track for a front vehicle seat. In the Australian tethering approach, the tether is wound around both sides of the top of the back of the car seat and is attached to the vehicle at the tether anchor behind the vehicle seat, as would be done in forward-facing tethering.

Combi, Diono, and Peg Perego only permit Swedish tethering, while Britax permits either. There are advantages and disadvantages to either method. Let’s look at these below.

Swedish Rear-Facing Tethering Pros:

They reduce rebound (backward movement of the car seat after a frontal collision).
They provide some degree of rotational stability during side impacts.
The tether doesn’t interfere with loading a child in a car seat.
They limit head excursion during rear collisions.

Swedish Cons: 

Australian Rear-Facing Tethering Pros:

They prevent downward forward rotation in forward crashes.
They provide some degree of rotational stability during side impacts.

The tether interferes with loading a child in a car seat.

Why is Rear-Facing Tethering a Good Idea?

As you can see, there are potential advantages to either method. Both provide some degree of rotational stability during side impacts by adding an extra point at which the car seat is connected to the vehicle. However, Swedish tethering has more advantages than Australian tethering, especially in the areas of rebound reduction in frontal collisions and in the reduction of head excursion in rear collisions.

How Do I Swedish Tether or Rear-Face Tether, or What If I Can’t?

To Swedish tether, you’ll need to find an anchor point under one of the front seats. Challenges might include finding a spot that allows you to use your tether connector strap, which is also known as a D-ring. You then wrap the D-ring around the solid anchored point, such as a seat track or a seat leg that is bolted to the frame of the vehicle. The other end of the tether connects to the D-ring.

If there isn’t a good location (one that’s solidly anchored and within 20 degrees of the car seat), then you might not be able to rear-face tether. Similarly, if you’ve got an older vehicle with lots of rust, you’ll want to make sure you check the anchor area thoroughly, as you don’t want a vehicle seat leg to go flying in a collision because a car seat with a child in it overstressed it.

Besides that, because of how uncommon rear-facing tethering is, you’re not likely to see it in most car manuals. Remember that if you can’t do it, it’s not such a big deal. You definitely should prioritize forward-facing tethering over rear-facing tethering, and you should never flip a rear-facing seat forward just so you’ll be able to tether it forward-facing if it would still fit a child rear-facing. Rear-facing is much, much safer, tethered or not, than forward-facing with a tether.

Remember…take the time to choose the right car seat, and if it’s forward-facing, get it tethered. If you can tether while rear-facing, do it! But if not, don’t lose sleep over it.

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If there’s one thing certain about car seat safety (besides the benefits of extended rear-facing), it’s that the whole affair can be incredibly confusing! LATCH or seat belts? What is LATCH? Why rear-face past 1? Which seat position is the safest? Why do they expire? It goes on and on. However, what I’d like to do today is talk about tethers and why using them when forward-facing car seats is a very good idea.

First of all, fewer than 30% of forward-facing children in the US are tethered, when 100% should be. Of those 28% of tethered children, only 59% are even tethered correctly! The specific percentages have increased and decreased a bit, but they’re basically the same, much as how roughly 33% of collision deaths have been due to alcohol for the last several decades. Ridiculous. However, on the bright side, if 30% of parents are using tethers, that simply means that we need to spread the word to the other 70%, right? Let’s do it!

What are tethers?

Tethers, which are also known as top tethers or straps, are essentially seat belts that attach to the top rear portion of convertible or combination seats. In the United States, they are almost always attached to forward-facing seats. They are sometimes attached to rear-facing seats, but I’ll discuss that later. The point is that tethers are designed to attach to car seats and to tether anchors, or secure points on the vehicle, to keep the top of the car seat from moving in a collision.

Why use them when forward-facing car seats?

Using them reduces head excursion by, on average, 7 inches. What’s head excursion, and why is that a big deal? Head excursion is just a fancy term for the movement of an individual’s (in this case, a child’s) head forward in a collision. And yes, 7 inches (or 6-8 inches, on average), is a big deal when it comes to car seats! Seven inches can mean the difference between a collision where a child can simply be unbuckled and walk out of a seat uninjured and a collision where the same child suffers serious or even fatal injuries from hitting a part of the vehicle during the collision, such as the side pillars, windows, or of course, the seat in front of the child. And yes, that can happen even while a child is completely and securely restrained if a tether isn’t being used.

According to Federal standards, it’s okay for a child’s head to move forward by up to 32″ if s/he sits in a seat without a tether. On the other hand, if a tether is connected, only 28″ of head excursion are allowed. Both are large amounts, but it can be the difference between a child’s head smashing into the back of a front seat and…not. At the speeds of a crash, that contact (or lack thereof) can easily mark the difference between death and life. And the scary thing is that in most vehicles, there is far less than 32″ of space between the back of the back seat and the back of the front seat. Take a yardstick out to your car sometime and measure that distance. If you’ve got a small car (e.g., a Civic or Corolla), it gets worse. If you’ve got a minicar (e.g., a Fiesta, Fit, or Yaris), it gets gruesome. This, by the way, is another reason to rear-face; the back of your child’s car seat is what will hit the front seat, if it hits at all, rather than the front of your child’s head.

Is it hard to use a tether?

Absolutely not. You simply attach it to your car seat, attach it to your vehicle’s anchor point, and that’s it. For something that can make such a difference, it really doesn’t take much effort. Choose the tether anchor right behind the seat in which you’ve installed your forward-facing car seat. For example, if you’ve got a seat in the right passenger seat, you’ll need to use the right passenger tether anchor; you can’t use tethers meant for different seats. It’s okay for tethers to be 20 degrees off-center relative to the seat, but this is simply to give vehicle manufacturers room for tether anchor setups.

If you aren’t sure where the anchor points are on your vehicle, consult your manual or take your vehicle to a CPST who will be happy to show you. If you can’t find your vehicle’s manual, all you need to do is Google it (e.g., “2001 Honda Accord owner’s manual” if you have a 2001 Honda Accord), and you’ll find it online. Sometimes you’ll see a PDF freely available, and other times you’ll need to enter your VIN number at the manufacturer’s website. Either way, you’ll be able to find it. If you have trouble finding yours, shoot me an email and I’ll find it for you and send it to you for free. It’s that important.

How often should a tether be used?

Use a tether every single time you have a harnessed, forward-facing child. Although you’re not required to do so by law in the US (you are in Canada), it’s part of basic forward-facing car safety, just like making sure you harness your child and that his or her shoulders are below the harness straps. You should use the tether whether you’ve got the seat installed via lower LATCH connectors or via the seat belt, which I prefer. Keep in mind that certain car seats require tether use. For example, under specific circumstances, Clek requires the tether to be used while forward-facing.

When boostering, tethering isn’t required, but it can be used as a safety feature for additional passengers, as the tether keeps an empty seat from turning into a deadly projectile during a collision. However, best practice indicates that a booster seat should always be buckled in via a seat belt, whether a child is inside it or not.

I look forward to the day when the US rate of tether use approaches 100%. Remember to use a tether whenever you have a forward-facing car seat, regardless of whether the seat is attached via lower LATCH anchors or via a seat belt. Keep in mind that you can have tether anchors installed for free or for low cost in most vehicles if they don’t already have tether anchors present.

Remember…take the time to choose the right car seat, and if it’s forward-facing, get it tethered!

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If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.

The mom on the left is doing something every mom should do: rear-facing for as long as possible (in this case, in her Graco Click Connect 40)! I’ve written before about reasons to rear-face long past age 2 (ideally to age 4 or more), despite the legal requirement in the US currently being until 1 and the AAP recommended age being barely better at until 2. I’ve also written before about the concept of the orphan seat, where safely-restrained rear-facing children are often the only survivors of severe collisions, leading to the term. However, this is a topic I’m always happy to discuss more, and here is a visual animated depiction of how forces are distributed differently across a child’s body depending on whether she is rear- or forward-facing.

The video shows the significant forces exerted on the shoulder, neck, and head, and how they’re spread over greater areas of the body when rear-facing. There’s a 90% reduction in the risk of serious injuries and death when RF compared to when FF, per the video.

There is no greater killer of children than motor vehicle crashes. Best practices means protecting them the safest way possible, for as long as possible. Even though the US is behind in best practices, when you know better, you do better. And if you read this blog, you know better. Do better. Rear-face as long as possible with seats that make it possible.

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If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.

One of the questions I get time and time again involves which seat position is safest for a car seat for young children. It’s common knowledge by now that the back seat is safer than the front seat and that rear-facing is much, much safer than forward-facing, but what about whether to place a seat behind the driver, in the center, or behind the passenger seat? Which is safest? The left, middle, or right? Which of the three Foonfs above should your child sit in, if you get the choice?

Which car seat position is safest–behind the driver, in the center, or behind the passenger?

Instead of answering this question individually, I decided to write it up for everyone. Here is a technical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics that addresses this, published in Pediatrics Vol. 127 No. 4 on April 1, 2011, between pages 1050 and 1066. You can read the whole report; it has lots of interesting information. However, for the purposes of answering this question, this is the relevant part:

Two recent studies specifically evaluated the potential incremental benefits of the center rear seating position compared with the rear outboard positions. Lund⁷⁹ used data from the National Automotive Sampling System–General Estimates System system from 1992 to 2000 to evaluate the effect of seating position on the risk of injury for children in child restraints. Lund reported that children in the center rear seat had a similar risk of injury to children in the outboard rear seats. In contrast, Kallan et al⁷⁴ used data from the Partners for Child Passenger Safety project, a large, child-focused crash-surveillance system, from 1998 to 2006 and found that children restrained in forward-facing CSSs and seated in the center rear had an injury risk 43% lower than similarly restrained children in either of the rear outboard positions (adjusted OR: 0.57 [95% CI: 0.38–0.86]). These contrasting findings are likely attributable to how injuries were defined in the 2 studies. Lund defined injury as any police-reported injury, which included those of a relatively minor nature. The threshold for injury was higher in the Kallan et al analysis, which included only injuries involving internal organs and fractures of the extremities.

In other words, one study (Lund’s) did not find a difference in outcomes based on sitting in the center rear vs. outboard positions, while a second study (Kallan et al’s) found a 43% reduced risk of injury when children sat in the center rear compared to the outboard (by the door) positions. The Kallan study was based on forward-facing children, so it’s not clear if the results would be as significant with rear-facing children. However, in the absence of that information, it does seem like the center position is the preferred one. This is underscored by the fact that Kallan’s study only looked at serious injuries, such as those where internal organs were damaged or extremities were fractured, while Lund’s study looked at all kinds of injuries, including minor ones.

To put it another way, if the data from both studies is valid, it suggests that while the overall rates of injury aren’t statistically different based on where car seats are installed in the rear of a vehicle, there is a significant reduction in the rate of serious injuries when children are installed in the center seat, at least when these children are forward-facing.

Does this mean I should never place a child by a door?

Not necessarily. Nor does it mean you should worry if you have to have an outboard installation, especially if you’re installing 3 across seats. What’s most important is to rear-face as long as possible (ideally until 4, 5 or longer), followed by forward-facing for as long as necessary (ideally until at least 5), and then transitioning to a booster (ideally until between 10 and 12). Those are the big areas to cover.

After all of that is covered, if you only have one child to transport, I would put him or her in the middle, and in a good car seat. If you have two or more to transport, I would put the least protected child (e.g., the youngest forward-facing child) in the middle. Keeping basic car safety tenets in mind, I’d also drive as little as possible; it’s very hard to die in a vehicular collision if you aren’t logging thousands of miles on the road each year.

Finally, remember that if you are using a center position, most vehicles and car seats do not allow you to use outboard LATCH attachments from the outboard seats. This means that in most center installations, you will need to use the seat belt. Remember that seat belts are every bit as safe as LATCH. You can go to a free car seat safety check to make sure your seat is properly installed. Your hospital or pediatrician should be able to tell you when and where the next one in your area will take place.

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If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.