Rear Facing To Age 2

What exciting news this is!!! The American Academy of Pediatrics has officially said we should keep children rear facing until they are 2. It is suggested that we keep kids rear facing until 2 as a minimum, however, best to keep them rear facing until they reach the rear facing limits of the child restraint. If your child outgrows the rear facing weight of your car seat before their 2nd birthday, it is time to look at another seat that has a higher rear facing limit. Research has shown that children are 5 times safer rear facing than they are forward facing. Rear facing helps allow for the restraint system to absorb the crash forces, not the child. In the event of an accident, children are cradled into the seat to help protect them and reduce their injury.

There are more seats on the market today with rear facing limits of 35lbs and higher. Some seats even rear face up to 40lbs. and 45lbs. These seats will help you reach the 2 year mark and higher with ease.

Children that are forward facing already, and are within the weight limits to continue rear facing should be turned back around. If your child is rear facing, continue to keep them rear facing until they reach the limits of their restraint.

When your child outgrows this limit to rear face and you turn them around, harnessing seats go as high as 85lbs. It is just as important to harness them for longer, just as it is to rear face them longer. We suggest harnessing them until you no longer can. Depending on the child this can get you to 8 years old or even more with a 5 point restraint. Harnessing them helps reduce the crash forces off them, eliminates the question of if the seat belt is properly positioned on the child, and if they are ready for it.

Booster seats are for big kids. Children from roughly 7 years old up to as much as 12 even. It is important to make sure your child can sit with their knees bent properly over the edge of the seat, the belt lays correctly over their hips, the shoulder belt lays properly across their shoulder, and they can sit where they need to be without moving around. They must also be 4'9".

This is extremely exciting news for the Kyle David Miller Foundation. We are very pleased to see these new statements being released and that the A.A.P. is helping change a trend in car seat safety.

I always remind people that children are your most precious cargo. You don't know how well the people around you are at controlling their vehicles, so take the steps ahead of time. Head off excess injuries before you're faced with an accident and you can't change things anymore - rear face your children until you can't, harness them until they are 7 and 8 years old, and then booster them until they can truly sit without a booster.

Happy 9th Birthday baby boy

We miss you more than words can say.......

5 point harness saves lives

We were recently alerted to this story of the Cox family who were involved in a side impact crash. Both children were secured in a 5 point harness seats, which a Safe Kids representative commented saved their life. If they had been in booster seats, at least one of the children would not have made it. You can read more about the Cox family's crash on their blog here

It's child passenger safety week!

We couldn't let this important week pass without a reminder from the board members and volunteers of the Kyle David Miller Foundation to make sure you are

• securing your child in an appropriate child restraint - rear-facing to the max and harnessing to the max.
• that your restraint is appropriately installed - no more than 1 inch of movement side to side, front to back when tugged lightly at the belt path
• that you are using your child restraint correctly - harness is set at the correct height (at or below shoulders for rear-facing, at or above shoulders for forward-facing), the harness is tight enough (pinch test at the collarbone) and the chest clip is placed at armpit height
• if your child is in a booster seat, make sure the lap portion of the seatbelt lies low across the child's hips (not on the abdomen) and the shoulder portion lies across the middle of the chest and lays on the shoulder (not touching the neck)

We want to thank everyone for your support of the foundation, both past and ongoing. Our aim is to avoid parents going through the heartbreak of losing their child in a crash. Through our car seat donation program, we have assisted parents with this aim. Help us to assist more and consider donating to the foundation.

Buckle UP everyone!

Great new rear-facing YouTube video

Meet Lewis!!!

We send our warmest wishes to the Craddock family - friendship and love. Lewis is an amazing little boy who is showing the world how to overcome any obstacle. Please take a few moments to learn about his story.

New Britax Seats - RF to 40lbs! FF to 70lbs, improved side impact protection

NEW BRITAX CAR SEAT LINE OFFERS 360 DEGREE PROTECTION AND REVOLUTIONARY HEAD SAFETY TECHNOLOGY

- New technology on convertible car seat range addresses no. 1 cause of death for children in vehicle crashes -

CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 28, 2010 - Britax today announced a full redesign and relaunch of its line of best-selling convertible car seats. The new line offers Superior 360 Degree Protection with Revolutionary Head Safety Technology that dramatically reduces the risk of head injury and provides complete protection from all sides in the event of a vehicle crash.

Head safety is critical because even tiny increases in head excursion - the distance the head travels forward during the crash - can exponentially increase the risk of head injury. Head injury is the leading cause of death for children up to 12 years old involved vehicle crashes and comprises 65 percent of injuries in both frontal and side impact crashes, according to Child Injury Led Design and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. With this in mind, Britax designed its new line to help prevent real world injury for children and make it that much easier for parents and caregivers to use their children's car seats correctly each and every time.

Unprecedented Head Safety
Britax Revolutionary Head Safety Technology incorporates features that lower the child's center of gravity, strengthen the child seat and manage crash energy. Together, they reduce head excursion and offer the most advanced protection to children. These include:

* A re-engineered lower center of gravity that allows the child to sit lower and creates stability in the event of a crash.
* Integrated steel bars that strengthen the connection to the vehicle and reduce forward flexing of the child seat during a crash.
* Patent-pending Britax SafeCell(tm) Technology with SafeCells that are designed to compress in a crash. This significantly lowers the center of gravity and counteracts the forward rotation of the child seat, which normally propels the child toward the front seat.
* Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether(r) with a two-point attachment and staged-release tether webbing to anchor the top of the car seat. This minimizes forward-rotation and reduces crash forces reaching the child.

Enhanced side impact protection, extended weight capacities
Britax designed its new line to improve upon its Side Impact Protection (SIP) and True Side Impact Protection(r) (TSIP). The car seats feature deeper side walls lined with energy-absorbing EPP foam that distribute crash forces, shield from vehicle intrusion, and contain the head, neck and body. Britax TSIP car seats also offer a head restraint that creates an extra layer of energy-absorbing EPP foam, keeping the head, neck and spine "in true" or aligned. This protection is imperative, as approximately one in four of all motor vehicle crashes that involve children occur from the side, and these result in a significantly higher injury rate than frontal or rear impacts, according to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
In addition to enhanced side impact protection, the new line offers higher weight capacities to keep children rear facing longer and to allow for extended use of a five-point harness. The convertible car seats can accommodate children from between 5 and 40 pounds rear facing and up to 70 pounds forward facing, and the mid-capacity convertible allows children to sit forward facing up to 55 pounds. The new seats offer a harness position that helps position the harness at or below baby's shoulder, and an infant insert is available separately to properly position the infant and protect the airway.

Installation and Ease of Use Features
The new convertibles also include features that make them easier to install and use properly and consistently.
Non-handed premium LATCH connectors allow the seats to easily transition from rear to forward facing, while an easy access cover and access to belt paths from the front of the seat reduce the time needed for installation. Built-in lock-offs ensure a tight lap and shoulder seat belt installation with minimal effort.
Ease-of-use features include: a quick-adjust head restraint, a no-rethread harness (available on all convertibles except for the line's mid-capacity convertible), buckle adjustments and multiple recline adjustments.
The revamped line includes the Roundabout 55 (SRP: $199.99), Marathon 70 (SRP: $279.99), Boulevard 70 (SRP: $309.99), Boulevard 70 CS (SRP: $329.99) and Advocate 70 CS (SRP: $369.99). They will be available in a variety of fashions at independent and mass retailers in August 2010.
Additional information including product pages, video clips and user guides will be available on www.BritaxUSA.com starting July 1, 2010.
About Britax Child Safety Inc.

Child car seat and stroller manufacturer Britax(r) Child Safety Inc. is the leader in developing cutting edge technologies that absorb crash forces and manage energy away from the child in a crash. Britax has pioneered features such as side impact protection, True Side Impact Protection(r), and Side Impact Cushion(tm) Technology to minimize the risk of injury in side impact crashes, which are the most severe vehicle collisions. The Britax range includes a car seat for every stage of a child's life from "birth to belt" and offers higher weight capacities to keep children rear facing and in a five-point harness longer.

Remember - lap babies are not safe

It was great to see this piece by CBS News today about the dangers of lap children. We wrote about this very same subject on the blog last year, but it is always good to get the message out and remind parents to purchase a seat for their children on the plane and to take their car seat on board and install it. Most restraints are FAA approved for use on the plane. There is a sticker on the side of your seat which will confirm that.

Rock your shocks!

I had the fortune recently to attend a child passenger safety update class presented by Sarah Tilton of Britax and Vera Fullaway of Combi USA. Child Passenger Safety Technicians are required to perform continuing education and re-certify every two years. This is to hopefully ensure that we stay current with all the latest recommendations and the new car seats which are hitting the market.

During the training course (which was EXCELLENT!), Sarah referred to a type of installation that she terms, "Rock your shocks". You know the one, the seat is in there so tight that when you tug on the child seat, the whole car shakes. You're so proud of your tight install - nothing's moving that sucker, right?

Well, actually wrong! You don't want that kind of installation. You see, each component in a car seat, be it the harness, or the seat belt/LATCH belt that is securing the seat is designed to absorb some of those violent crash forces. Let's refer to Sir Isaac Newton here and his first law of motion:

Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

In a crash, your child's body (and their internal organs) will continue at the speed and direction that your vehicle was traveling in - until something stops them. You don't want all the stopping force transferred directly to your child.

In a crash, you WANT the seat belt or the LATCH belt to stretch in the crash - that stretching absorbs some of those crash forces, keeping them off your child's body. If you've got a "rock your shocks" installation, those belts are already stretched and so the forces will go directly to your child's body. This is not what you want!

So how should we best install our car seat. Well, it should be in there snuggly. When you tug lightly, with your weak hand, at the belt path, it should not move more than 1 inch laterally side to side, front to back. This is a good installation and will ensure that those violent crash forces are absorbed by your child restraint and vehicle restraint system as they are designed to do.

We have a winner!!!

Congratulation to Crystal Stegman who is our winner of the Britax cowmooflage marathon. We'll be getting that seat shipped out to you tomorrow, Crystal.

Congratulations to winner and to everyone else who entered and spread the word about the contest.

What would you like to see next for a contest? Any interest in winning a Britax Frontier 85? Comment here to let me know and I will get things in motion.