Revisiting Child Belt Fit with and without Belt-Positioning Boosters

We haven't been doing as much child passenger safety research as we did from 2005 to 2015, but we recently collaborated with CDC and Westat on a study of child posture and belt fit in second row seats. Our role was in training the study team and analyzing the results. The study, published in Traffic Injury Prevention, is similar to some of our previous work, but used a more diverse population of children. As we have demonstrated previously, being a certain stature (say, 4'9") does not guarantee a child good belt fit. Instead, belt fit must be assessed individually. We are cautiously optimistic that new dynamic consumer information testing with a small female ATD in second-row seats will improve belt geometry, benefiting all occupants in those seats.