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Before Boosters |
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Before Booster Seat Use
Booster seats are designed so that children correctly wear the adult seat belt over their small body. The lap portion needs to sit low down across their lap, not their abdomen. Whilst the shoulder strap needs to be away from their neck, not under their arm or behind their back, or cutting into their neck.
It is important that you do not move your child to a booster seat too soon. Children who use a booster seat before they are big enough physically, and mature enough are at risk of submarining. This is when the child either comes up against the lap portion of the belt, or slides out underneath it.
For a booster seat to perform correctly in an accident the child needs to be able to sit correctly in the seat. This means that they need to keep the belt over their body correctly and sit up correctly, leaning out of the sides, or placing the belt behind their body, with put the child at risk.
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It is recommend to use a booster seat ONLY once your child has out grown their convertible child restraint. The age that a child out grows their car seat will differ from child to child and is not age dependent, go by the seat weight limit, or height of your child that is, if the child's eye/ears are level with the top/sides of the seat they need to move onto a bigger seat.
Using a booster and child safety harness
If you need to use a booster seat for a child who has recently out grown their car seat it is recommended to use a child harness along with the booster seat and vehicle seat belt.
Some booster seats come with a "anti-submarine" clip, this keeps the lap belt correctly placed, and prevents the child from sliding out under the lap belt in the event of an accident.
Click here to learn about child safety harnesses
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Please watch the video below, before you buy your child a booster seat, it may just save his/her life.