CAR SEAT TESTING STANDARDS NEED IMPROVEMENT IN THE U.S.
U.S. Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood said he planned to urge auto makers to crash-test child safety seats in their vehicles and recommend which child restraints are the safest for each vehicle. If adopted, this new system would be a victory for parents who are constantly struggling and searching for the safest car seats for their children. Although federal regulators rate new cars for safety, there are no such systems in place for child car seats. Unfortunately, a child restraint that performs well in one vehicle may perform poorly in another due to fitting inadequately in the back seat.
Interestingly, European regulators require auto makers to include child seats in their crash tests of new cars. The safety ratings for those European vehicles is based in part on how they protect children. The United States’ safety ratings actually have nothing to do with children or car seats. The United States needs to do look at the European system as a model.
Although this is a step in the right direction, the Transportation Secretary indicated that he would push for a voluntary system at the present time. The Secretary also ordered National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) to institute more stringent safety standards for child seats and side-impact crashes. Side-impact crashes account for nearly one-third of infant highway deaths.
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