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How long does a child need to be in a car seat?!

post #1 of 33
11/6/06 at 11:55pm
Thread Starter 
I'm SO thrilled to state that we kept our older two in 5 point harnesses LONG after everybody else said to take them out and Kale is still in one and will be for a long time to come!!! It is SOOO important that your child's seat is a 5 point harness and is tethered to the car!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ
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post #2 of 33
11/7/06 at 12:21am
My dd's seat goes up to 100lbs. But our van is too old to have tether points.
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post #3 of 33
11/7/06 at 12:42am
Thread Starter 
What year is it Grace?!?! Our older van has straps in the floor of the van
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post #4 of 33
11/7/06 at 2:01am
Good thinking Roxanna
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post #5 of 33
11/7/06 at 3:07am
we had to put our own tether straps into our van. not too hard to do i guess, dh did it himself
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post #6 of 33
11/7/06 at 5:05am
It's a '92 I think. It has shoulder belts all around, but there are not tether hooks on the floor and I have looked for them. We really don't spend a lot of time with our van, mainly it's in the shop.
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post #7 of 33
11/7/06 at 7:59am
Dylan's goes up to 80 pounds.
Depends on how big he gets.

He's 35 pounds now, and he's 2 1/2.

Austin just uses the seatbelt.
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post #8 of 33
11/7/06 at 10:09am
Our state has pretty strict car seat laws. I'm not possitive on my facts but I think that a child has to be 8 yrs old OR 80lbs. Haley stayed in her carseat until she was 7 (the law has changed since then) and Zachary is still in his booster at age 5.
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post #9 of 33
11/7/06 at 11:09am
I converted Haley's five point to a booster seat because she reached the weight limit on the harness. I'm thinking of putting it back on and using that plus the lap belt. It may look crazy, but that video was so, so sad and scary. I'm also going to see if I can find a five point that goes up way higher in weight.
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post #10 of 33
11/7/06 at 11:34am
Children have to be in a booster until they're 8. David is 8 so he uses a seatbelt. Anna is 6-1/2 she is in a seat that uses the seatbelt. I don't know if I'll let her out of a booster seat at 8 or not, because she is really tiny. William is still in a 5-pt. harness that is tethered. Elizabeth is in an infant seat of course.

Lenora, you can have the tether bolts added to the floor of your van if you're interested. Ours is a 96 but we had the dealership add them when we bought the van. We also had one installed in our Honda Accord. It is not very expensive. (but I can't remember how much since it was 5 years ago)
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post #11 of 33
11/7/06 at 11:55am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
converted Haley's five point to a booster seat because she reached the weight limit on the harness. I'm thinking of putting it back on and using that plus the lap belt. It may look crazy, but that video was so, so sad and scary. I'm also going to see if I can find a five point that goes up way higher in weight.


WTG!!! I truly believe that boosters should be illegial!
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post #12 of 33
11/7/06 at 12:10pm
I believe it's 6 and 60lbs. But they can be in a booster. I my self feel the 5 point is more secure. I think they want to make it 8 and 80.
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post #13 of 33
11/7/06 at 1:16pm
Lenora you just hav eto take your van into any dealership and they will install a tether bolt for you. Its the law (up here anways) that you have to have your carseat properly tethered to the car
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post #14 of 33
11/7/06 at 2:49pm
We have boosters for both the boys. They will be in them until they are over 80lbs, which will be awhile. They are not five point, they just use the regular seat belt.
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post #15 of 33
11/7/06 at 3:19pm
Thanks Roxanna!

Nick is using a turbobooster from Graco, but he is getting a 5 point asap and I'll make sure his and Kiera's(hers is 5 point) is tethered to the van. I'm glad I saw that. I would die if that happened to any of my kids.
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post #16 of 33
11/7/06 at 9:32pm
Good point! Zach had the Britax Marathon (5 - 65 lbs, rear and forward facing) and now those are in his grandparents car. We just got him the Britax Husky (20 - 100 lbs, forward facing only) with a five point harness.
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post #17 of 33
11/7/06 at 10:36pm
Both my kids are in an Eddie Bauer - 5 point harness convertable seat. (Had to get the exact same b/cuz Delaney ALWAYS wanted Kyler's seat. )
They both go up to 100 pounds.

Mine aren't hooked to my vehicle. I don't have the hooks in my truck either. I didn't realize you could have them installed.
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post #18 of 33
11/8/06 at 2:28am
Did you ladies look at the link Roxanna sent thru the BUsergroup? Really makes you think.
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post #19 of 33
11/8/06 at 7:59pm
Shari--Do the Eddie Bauer convertables use the 5 point up to 100 lbs. I don't think so. At some point (weight limit) they switch to a belt positioning booster. We have one for my aunt's car.
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post #20 of 33
11/8/06 at 11:30pm
I believe in Virginia, the child has to be over 4 feet 9 inches tall in order to be in the seat without a booster or car seat. This keeps the seat belt off their neck.
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post #21 of 33
11/8/06 at 11:51pm
http://www.elitecarseats.com/custser...=car_seat_laws

A page that has most of the information for restraints. In Alabama once your 6 you don't need to wear anything It doesn't list height/weight for all states but I thought it was at least a start.
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post #22 of 33
11/9/06 at 12:32am
Thanks for the link Mel! i had to go and look up the Canadian Regulations, we have an 8/80lbs rule accross the country.
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post #23 of 33
11/9/06 at 10:03am
Thread Starter 
Bad thing is that just because it is a law does not mean that it is safe. 60 lbs or 6 years old is way too small for a regular belt. And at any weight/age a booster is simply not safe enough for any child.
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post #24 of 33
11/9/06 at 10:16am
First off, understand that I am not disagreeing. I just have a question, and want to open discuss on this subject - not debate.

Was it something about the booster seat in particular that made the seatbelt unbuckle? Or do seatbelts simply have this flaw that can make them come loose in a rollover, thus making them unsafe at any age? It sounds like in addition to doing what we can to make our children safer, by enforcing improved car seat laws, we should take the automakers to task on fixing this flaw.

If a booster seat is by its very design dangerous, then at what age/height/weight should a child be moved from car seat to adult seat, and will they be any safer, given this seatbelt flaw?

As I said, just questions.
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post #25 of 33
11/9/06 at 10:56am
I was thinking the same thing Judy, just didn't feel like having my throat ripped open for asking it. It's a horrible tragedy to lose a child *any* age ... but if it were a seatbelt malfunction and the child were say ... 12 years old ... wouldn't the result have been the same?? And I agree -- if this is the case, then we need to be learning how to check our seatbelts to make sure they are working properly and if not, demand that the manufacturer fix them!
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post #26 of 33
11/9/06 at 10:59am
I was thinking the same thing that maybe it's a seatbelt flaw, in which case that needs to be addressed. I know that I've heard of people being thrown from cars when the seatbelt malfunctioned as adults. I think it's one of those things that we need to work on changing in the manufacturing process so it happens less and less.
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post #27 of 33
11/9/06 at 3:39pm
I was thinking the same thing to.I have no intention on changing from boosters with seatbelts, to five point harness. jmho
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post #28 of 33
11/9/06 at 4:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
If a booster seat is by its very design dangerous, then at what age/height/weight should a child be moved from car seat to adult seat, and will they be any safer, given this seatbelt flaw?
I do know that seatbelts can have flaws and you neveer know until it is too late. But I do know that a 5 point harness is MUCH safer ... you can see the demonstration of a "dummy" in a booster with a seatbelt in the video .. after watching that I'll NEVER put my child in a booster .. NEVER ... that is way to dangerous.
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post #29 of 33
11/9/06 at 4:08pm
As much as I would love to have my kids all in a 5pt I have to say my 9 year old and 6 year old DO NOT FIT! Jake was in a 5pt till it was just too tight....now he is in a booster. And my 9 year old is in the seat belt. Jess is in a 5pt (alpha omega) and will be till it no longer fits. I agree with Judy, in some cases not even the best carseat is gonna do any good. Another thing is, what about those with small cars that will not hold more then one big car seat? In a perfect world we could all just say....OH I need to run out and buy a bigger car, but unfortuatley for some of us it's not an option if we want to keep a roof over the childs head and food in it's belly. My DH has an escort and as much as we try to take the van when we have the kids it's not always possible.....and only one big carseat fits in the back seat....we barely manage to squeeze in Jakes half booster and Josh in a regular seat belt. My question is "why don't the automakers use 5 point belts to replace seat belts for all passengers?"
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post #30 of 33
11/9/06 at 5:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by paijj
My question is "why don't the automakers use 5 point belts to replace seat belts for all passengers?"
This sounds like the only true solution to the problem.

Like Roxanna said, the 5-point harness is much safer, and other than cost-cutting (I'm sure it's cheaper to just do shoulder harnesses), there is really no reason why all the passengers, regardless of age, shouldn't be in one.

For me, I cannot justify the risks of putting DS into an adult seatbelt without the booster, and he's too tall for most of the 5-point harnesses, though not tall enough to not be required to be in some sort of child seat (must be 4' 9" here in VA). If auto manufacturers aren't retrofitting cars to incorporate a 5-point, then perhaps car seat manufacturers need to adapt taller car seats.
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