A major safety institute says it’s too hard to install child seats in most cars
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found very few cars have easy to use child restraint systems.
When it comes to providing consumers with easy-to-use child restraint systems, the vast majority of automakers have a long way to go.
That’s the gist of a new report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that examined the “child restraint installation hardware’’ – meaning straps parents use to tie down their kids’ car seats – in over 100 vehicles and graded each vehicle’s ease of use.
Only three vehicles, the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz GL-Class, and the Volkswagen Passat, were ranked “Good,’’ the institute’s highest grade.
More than half of the 102 reviewed vehicles received “Marginal’’ or “Poor’’ grades. The rest were considered “Acceptable.’’
IIHS called out the Toyota Sienna in particular for its “Poor’’ rating. Because the vehicle is a minivan it is more likely to transport children.
This is the Institute’s first report on vehicles’ “LATCH’’ ratings that are intended to help families find a vehicle that makes it easy to transport their children. LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children, which have been required in vehicles and child restraints since 2002.
“LATCH is meant to simplify child seat installations, but it doesn’t always succeed,’’ said IIHS Senior Research Scientist Jessica Jermakian in a statement. “Parents often struggle to locate the anchors in the vehicle or find it’s difficult to attach the seats to them.
“We believe fixing these problem will make the task less frustrating for parents and increase the likelihood that children will ride in properly installed seats,’’ said Jermakian.
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Here’s how IIHS awards a “Good’’ rating
• The vehicle’s LATCH hardware must have lower anchors that are no more than three quarters of an inch deep in an area of the seat known as the “bight.’’
• Lower anchors must be easy to maneuver around and have a clearance angle greater than 54 degrees.
• The force required to attach a standardized tool must be under 40 pounds.
• Tether anchors must be located on the vehicle’s rear deck or on the top 85 percent of the seatback, not located on the bottom of the seatback, under the seat, on the ceiling, or the floor.
• The area where the tether anchor is found should not be located near other hardware that could confuse the parent. If other hardware is located near the tether anchor, the anchor must have a clear label within three inches.
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