Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rates booster seats

On October 1, 2008, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released new ratings of child booster seats. The first of their kind, IIHS ranked boosters from those that performed as “best bets” to those that are “not recommended,” based on the seat’s ability to correctly position a vehicle’s lap and shoulder belt for booster-age children, not on their performance in simulated crash tests.

Unlike child restraints intended for smaller children that have internal harnesses, materials, and structures to restrain children and absorb crash energy, booster seats function as a positioning device to correctly place the child within the vehicle’s seatbelt system. It is the seatbelt that does the restraining, with the boosters designed to position those belts across the stronger bony structures of the hip and clavicle/collar bone rather than across the softer tissue of the abdomen and neck.

IIHS, in conjunction with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI), measured how the lap and shoulder belts fit a crash-test dummy representing the average size and weight of a six-year-old in each of 41 booster seat models.

The booster seats were evaluated using a vehicle seat with lap and shoulder belts in a range of positions based on actual vehicle measurements. Though seatbelts are highly effective at reducing injury in a crash, those that are incorrectly positioned across the lap have the potential to cause injury to the abdomen if positioned too high and if they allow children to slide under them during a crash.

Read the rest of this post on our Cars blog, including which models performed well, and advice on getting the right fit for your child.

And learn more about how to choose the right child safety seat, including the available types and features. 

Comments

[E. Chees]

The new LATCHing booster seat needs to also be reviewed.

[C. Yellan]

Hello
When will CR be updating their evaluations of child booster seats? Your recommended list includes the Cosco Protek - which I have been unable to find in stores. Additionally, the local media has done two stories recently indicating that the the backless booster seats are not as safe as booster seats with backs. I have always relied on CR for up-to-date advice and reviews, so I wondered when these seats would be reevaluated.

Thank you.

[R Wyss]

Why are backless booster seats consistently rated higher than similar models with backs? The seat back often also more precisely locates the shoulder belt on the child and provides an additional measure of whiplash protection and some side impact protection.

I have not been able to find this information in any of the articles on this site.

Thanks.

[CR expert]

The difference in ratings for booster seats between Consumer Reports and IIHS is predominantly the fact that the methods of testing are different. IIHS ratings of boosters are based on how the seat was able to position the lap and shoulder portions of seatbelts on a 6-year-old-sized test dummy. Though positioning the belts correctly is a booster seat’s main function, we also feel that a seat’s performance in simulated crash tests, how it fits the vehicle, and how easy it is to use are important aspects, and those three items combine to give a seat its overall score in CR ratings. What’s important from the IIHS message is that booster seats position the lap belt low on the child’s upper thighs and the shoulder belt about mid-shoulder over the clavicle. We encourage parents to do their own evaluation with any seat they choose (much like IIHS did with the dummy) to see if the booster seat they choose does that with their own child and their own car, since the combinations of different sized kids and different car configurations is endless.

[Heather Cain]

Hi - How often do you test car seats? When will there be results for the Evenflo Symphony or the new Britax Advocate?

Thanks!

[W. Pockman]

I just stumbled across this post after purchasing CU's most highly rated toddler booster seat, which is also one of the seats in the Not Recommended section of the IIHS report (Eddie Bauer Summit). If CU is to truely provide useful guidance on a topic that is of such paramount importance to a large group of readers, it would seem that the IIHS results should be linked to the report on these seats to avoid this problem. Without this sort of connection, the value of CU's reviews is significantly diminished.

[Wendy Borst]

Moderator--I really don't want to post anything. I just want someone to fix your pictures on this site. You have several pictures where the kids aren't properly buckled. The bar that attach the two straps should be up even (top) with their armpits. This drives me nuts, I see this all the time on commercials and magazines. I can't tell you how often I see people that don't have their kids properly buckled, maybe if media gets it right, people might notice they are doing it wrong, right now they might think they are doing it right. Thanks!