Car Safety: Is Your Car Safe for Your Child?

In Pakistan, we merely pay attention to child safety before moving out. In many accidents, when children get hurt rescue workers ask their parents why they allow their child to sit on the front wheel and parents end up giving lame explanation that they would not listen to us. That is one scenario. In other cases, parents do not bother to buckle up their child before starting their car.

Using Car LATCH for Children!

LATCH that stands for “Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children” vehicles hardware should be installed to cope this problem. The worst part, this latch frustrates parents because it really do not helps with all the cars. Before we classify which cars are safe to drive with kids, we need to understand what safety measures qualifies any car as “Safe” for children?

“According to Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Vehicle LATCH hardware is rated good if it meets the following criteria:

1. The lower anchors are no more than 3/4 inch deep in the seat bight.
2. The lower anchors are easy to maneuver around. This is defined as having a clearance angle greater than 54 degrees.
3. The force required to attach a standardized tool to the lower anchors in less than 40 pounds. (The tool represents a lower connector of a child seat, through the actual force required when installing a seat varies depending on the specific connector).
4. Tether anchors are on the vehicle’s rear deck or on the top 85 percent of the seatback. They shouldn’t be at the very bottom of the seatback, under the seat, on the ceiling or on the floor.
5. The area where the tether anchor is found doesn’t have any other hardware that could be confused for the tether anchor. If other hardware is present, then the tether anchor must have a clear label located within 3 inches of it. “

Which cars are best for child’s safety?

A lot of cars have undergone tests for children safety and only a few cars are considered best for children, these are:

1.               BMW Series 5
2.             Mercedes Benz GL
3.             Volkswagen Passat

Which cars are worst for child’s safety?

Do you own a car worst for your child safety? If so, you should start thinking to get rid of it. So which cars are considered worst for your children, here it is:

1. Toyota Sienna
2.  Chevy Silverado
3.   Ford Fiesta
4.   Lexus ES
5.   Mazda 6
6.  Nissan Altima
7. Volkswagen Jetta

Congratulations, if your car name doesn’t appeared in worst cars for child safety list. If your car doesn’t make it in best cars for children safety list, you better need to take it to car maintenance expert and install children safety latch for your child.