This technical report presents results from the 2015 National Survey of the Use of Booster Seats (NSUBS), the only probability-based nationwide child restraint use survey in the United States that observes restraint use and interviews an adult occupant to collect race, ethnicity, and other data. NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis conducts the NSUBS. The 2015 NSUBS found that 44.5 percent of 4- to 7-year-old children were restrained in booster seatsas compared to 46.3 percent in 2013 when the last NSUBS was conducted. Restraint use for all children under 13 decreased slightly to 89.2 percent in 2015. There were some indications of premature graduation to restraint types that are not appropriate for children’s age, height, and weight along with some decline in use of appropriate restraint types in 2015 as compared to 2013. About 12.6 percent of children under age one were not in rear-facing car seats in 2015. (Author/publisher)
Abstract