When to move kids to seat belts
General Motors, the company that makes our great cars, trucks, and SUVs here at Palmen Buick GMC Cadillac, has recently helped fund a study by the Safe Kids Worldwide organization that has helped to point out a pretty worrisome trend: that is, nine out of ten parents don’t know the height a child should be before they ought to ride in a car without a booster seat. Do you? Today we’ll talk about when to move kids to seat belts based on their height — help spread the word!
The study, based on a national online survey of one thousand parents with children ranging from age 4 to 10, found that by and large, parents are taking their kids out of booster seats before they’re tall enough. Maybe the kids get restless and start to ask to be taken out, maybe other parents are already starting to do so, or any number of factors could be contributing to the early shift to seat belts. In any case, it’s important to make sure we have the correct information for optimal safety, and certainly any parent would agree.
So what is the right height for moving your kids to a seat belt from a booster seat? According to guidelines, we know that seat belts aren’t made to fit properly for a person who is less than 57 inches tall and between 80 and 100 pounds. If your child meets one of these standards but not the other, hold off on making the switch to seat belts.
Safe Kids Worldwide is a nonprofit that aims to prevent unintentional child injury through a variety of accident and injury prevention measures, and education through studies like this one are a huge part of that effort. GM is proud to support Safe Kids Worldwide, and likewise we are proud to be a GM dealer. If you’ve got any questions about fitting your child safety seat, or whether it’s time to move your child to a seat belt, please don’t hesitate to stop in and ask us and one of our helpful associates will help you out!
