Driver and Passenger Safety
19
If you are wearing a seat belt,
the child can be torn from your
arms. For example, if your
vehicle crashes into a parked
vehicle at 30 mph (48 km/h), a
20 lb (9 kg) infant will become
a 600 lb (275 kg) force, and
you will not be able to hold on.
•
Never put a seat belt over
yourself and an infant or
child. During a crash, the belt
could press deep into the child
and cause very serious injuries.
Children Should Sit in the
Back Seat
According to accident statistics,
children of all ages and sizes are
safer when they are restrained in
the back seat, not the front seat.
The National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration
recommends that all children ages
12 and under be properly
restrained in the back seat.
In the back seat, children are less
likely to be injured by striking
hard interior parts during a
collision or hard braking. Also,
children cannot be injured by an
inflating airbag when they ride in
the back.
The Passenger’s Airbag
Poses Serious Risks to
Children
Airbags have been designed to
help protect adults in a moderate
to severe frontal collision. To do
this, the passenger’s airbag is
quite large, and it inflates with
tremendous speed.
Infants
Never put a rear-facing child
seat in the front seat of a vehicle
equipped with a passenger’s
airbag. If the airbag inflates, it
can hit the back of the child seat
with enough force to kill or very
seriously injure an infant.
