HOME ABOUT US CONTACTS FORUMS LINKS SITE MAP

THE TOP 5
5-point VS. Shield
Shield Booster Dangers
Lap Belt Dangers
Front-Facing Too Soon?
Locking in a Child Seat

SHOPPING GUIDES
Infant Seats
Convertible Seats
Combination Seats
Booster Seats

THE BASICS
Rear-facing
Forward-facing
Booster

OTHER INFORMATION
Air Travel
Aftermarket Products
Child Seat Types
Used Seat Checklist
The Dangers of Shield Boosters




Expert Statements on Shield Boosters

Kathleen Weber (University Of Michigan Transportation Research Institute): Shield boosters are no longer considered appropriate crash protection for children. Crash investigations have documented ejections, excessive excursions, and shield-contact injuries in rollover, side, and frontal crashes, resulting in severe head, spinal, abdominal, and extremity injuries.


American Academy of Pediatrics: Children who weigh 40 pounds or less are best protected in a seat with a full harness. Significant injuries have occurred to children in shield boosters in crashes due to ejection, excessive head movement, and shield contact.


SafetyBeltSafe USA: Booster seats with a plastic shield in front of the child are not recommended.


National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA): Boosters with removable shields. Use without the shield to make lap and shoulder belts fit right. A child who has outgrown their convertible seat, yet weighs less than 40 pounds can be moved into a high-back booster with a harness.


University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center: A small shield does not provide nearly as much upper body and head protection as a full harness does for the 30 to 40 pound child. Also, a small shield does not provide as much upper body and head protection as does the lap/shoulder belt used with a belt-positioning booster...a 30 to 40 pound child should remain in the full harness seat rather than being switched to a booster.

Web MD:  There's more evidence against shield-style child booster seats. Children are at nearly eight times higher risk of serious injury when riding in these seats, a new study shows.




Shield Booster Injuries and Deaths


There have been at least 37 filed cases of children injured or killed in the Cosco Explorer/Grand Explorer (the only shield booster currently available). Here are a few of those and other shield booster cases that you can read personally.

Hannah Garner - Killed at age 4 when she was ejected from Gerry Double Guard.

Eric Brockschmidt - Paralyzed at age 3 in a Kolcraft shield booster

Dylan White - Paralyzed from the neck down at age five in the Cosco Grand Explorer

USA Today On Cosco Grand Explorer

Kansas City Star on Cosco Grand Explorer




Why shouldn't I use a shield booster?


The most important thing to understand is that this seat is only tested for frontal collisions. It does not have to pass side-impact testing, rear-impact testing or rollover testing. Many of the expert statements above address this concern. Real children have been injured or killed in shield boosters
.
This seat is NOT approved for airline use. A study done by the FAA concluded "As a class of child restraint devices, shield-type booster seats, in combination with factors associated with airplane passenger seats, contributed to an abdominal pressure measurement higher than in other child restraint devices and did not prevent a head impact." (http://www.faa.gov/fsdo/ord/change.htm)

This seat is not recommended by any safety expert when used with the shield. Certified child passenger safety technicians do not recommend them when doing car seat check-ups. Generally, when a CPS tech sees children in them, they recommend that the shield part of the seat be destroyed and the base used with a lap-shoulder belt; it is recommended that a lighter child (under 40 lbs) be moved into a high back booster with an internal harness.  By 2005, all manufacturers had discontinued production of shield boosters.

The problem with using shield boosters now is that they were designed for a different time. These booster seats were designed back when all cars only had lap belts in back. After a child had outgrown their harnessed car seat, parents had to choose between a shield booster or only a lap belt, it was the only option. At the time, it seemed they provided more protection than just a lap belt, but that was before the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration introduced the 6 year old test dummy. It was discovered that the shields on these boosters did not pass the government standard for head excursion (how far forward the head moves in a frontal collision) over 40 lbs.
 
Here's what the SafetyBeltSafe USA Technical Encyclopedia says: "After September 1996, all CRs had to meet the standard performance criteria using the 6-year dummy (47 lb) to certify over 40 lb. Many earlier products that certified to 60 lb using only the 3-year dummy (33.5 lb) are still in circulation, but they would not pass the current standard if tested today."

It has never been recommended that a child under 40 lbs use a booster (with or without a shield).

Shield Boosters provide little or no upper-body protection. In many cases, the children who are injured or killed in these either:

  • Fling too far forward, resulting in serious head or spinal injuries or
  • Submarine UNDER the shield and have spinal/neck injuries or are actually decapitated.
  • There are also unfortunate cases where children are thrown OUT in a side-impact or rollover collision.

Today, there are better, safer options for children both under 40 lbs and over.
 

The Safest Options

Under 40 lbs

Convertible Seat

Put the child in a convertible car seat facing forward. The harness must be in the reinforced slots and the harness must come out of the slots at or above the child's shoulders; the tops of the child's ears should be below the top of the seat shell.  Check the car seat manual to determine which harness slots are reinforced for forward-facing use.

Put the child in a combination seat. Use the five-point harness until child is 40 lbs, then use as a belt-positioning booster with car's lap-shoulder belt.

Combination Seat

 

Over 40 lbs

High Back Booster

Put child in a high-back belt-positioning booster and use the car's lap-shoulder belt as a restraint.

Put the child in a backless belt-positioning booster and use the car's lap-shoulder belt as a restraint.  Backless boosters can only be used in vehicles with head restraints or high seat backs; they are not an option in vehicles with low seat backs.

Backless Booster Seat

 

History of booster recommendations


Options for kids over 40 lbs with lap only belts

Copyright ©  CPSafety
All Rights Reserved

History of Shield Booster Recommendations