Rear Seats Impede Child Safety in Many Cars
By Matthew de Paula
Automakers need to rethink seat designs for child safety.
Anchors that secure child restraints are too difficult to reach in many vehicles and make installation unnecessarily complicated, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The IIHS released a new study it conducted with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute that found only 21 out of nearly 100 vehicles researchers looked at had rear seat designs that help parents use the Lower Anchor and Tethers for Children (LATCH) correctly. A common problem in many cars is that the rear-seat belt buckles obscure the anchor points. In some vehicles, they are so buried in the seat as to not be visible.
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"Many parents see the tethers as optional, but they're key to getting the best protection out of a child restraint," says Anne McCartt, senior vice president of research at the IIHS. The video below shows how a child in an an improperly tethered seat can get injured by smashing into the front seat. Using the upper tether that goes over the top of the seat back, in addition to the lower tethers, is critical.
"Sometimes parents blame themselves when they struggle with a child restraint, but we found that the problem is often with the vehicle, not the parent," McCartt says. "Automakers could do a lot to make it easier."
Researchers identified three factors associated with correct child-seat anchor use: depth, clearance and force. The anchors should be no more than 3/4 of an inch below the surface of the seat cushion; they should be free from obstructions like safety belt buckles, foam or fabric, and have good clearance to hook in tethers from various angles; and they shouldn't require the use of too much force to hook in the tethers. Vehicles meeting the criteria were 19 times as likely to have lower anchors used correctly than those that didn't meet the criteria.
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Here are the 2011 models that meet the criteria:
Audi A4 Quattro
Cadillac Escalade
Chevrolet Equinox LT
Chevrolet Silverado 1500 crew cab
Chevrolet Suburban LT
Chevrolet Tahoe LS
Chrysler Town & Country (2010)
Dodge Caliber Mainstreet
Dodge Grand Caravan Crew
Dodge Ram 1500 crew cab
Ford Escape XLT
Ford F-150 SuperCrew Cab
GMC Sierra 1500 crew cab SLE
Honda Pilot EX-L
Kia Sedona LX
Land Rover Range Rover Sport
Mercedes-Benz C300
Mercedes-Benz E350
Mitsubishi Eclipse coupe GS
Mitsubishi Lancer ES
Toyota Tacoma extended cab
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Here are the 2011 models that don't meet any of the criteria:
Buick Enclave CX
Chevrolet Impala LT
Dodge Avenger Express
Ford Flex SEL
Ford Taurus Limited
Hyundai Sonata Limited
Toyota Sienna XLE
Only seven of the 98 vehicles tested had dedicated LATCH anchors in the center, second-row seat, which the IIHS says is the safest place for children to travel.
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