Child Safety and a better seat belt standard (continued)

"CARS Foundation Presses for Safer Vehicles, Belts"

"In April of this year, the CARS Foundation petitioned NHTSA to require auto manufacturers to provide shoulder belt height adjustment features, to allow older children and small adults to wear properly fitting belts. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety supported this petition. However, NHTSA has not yet responded. Shahan is urging concerned individuals and organizations to send letters of support, to urge prompt action on this issue.

According to Shahan, the technology exists, and some vehicles already come with this feature, so imposing a rule should not create difficulties for the auto companies. The adjustability of shoulder belts will help promote correct belt usage, reducing the likelihood that people will refuse to wear their belts due to discomfort or will put the shoulder portion behind their backs or under their arms. Also, the Insurance Institute has determined that height adjustment is feasible for automatic belts as well as the manual belts now provided only in cars with airbags."

– Safe Ride News, American Academy of Pediatrics, Fall, 1990

 

Seat belts that fit

Moved by the predicament of parents, children, small adults, and elderly people, CARS led the successful fight to require auto manufacturers to install simple, inexpensive mechanisms to allow you to raise or lower the shoulder portion of seat belts.

CARS believes that your seat belt should be comfortable, and fit you safely – even if you are not an "average-sized male." Manufacturers vociferously opposed the federal safety standard CARS proposed, citing the cost. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration pegged the cost at a mere $2 per seating position.