The use of lower anchors and top tethers is considered by advocates to reduce risk of injury and misuse of child safety seats. Specifically, top tethers are designed to limit the amount of forward movement of a child safety seat during a crash, which reduces head excursion and reduces the risk of the occupant making contact with the vehicle’s interior. While the use of lower anchors is not considered to be safer than appropriate use of the vehicle’s safety belt, lower anchors do offer an additional option for incompatibility problems and are at least anecdotally reported to be generally easier to use than the safety belt. As a result, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) required that 80 percent of vehicle manufacturer’s passenger cars be equipped with top tether anchors by September 1, 1999; and required that all vehicles covered by the FMVSS 225 standard be equipped with top tether anchors by September 1, 2000. In addition, NHTSA specified a 3-year phase-in period for the lower vehicle anchorages, which required 20 percent of each manufacturer's fleet to be equipped with compliant lower anchorages beginning September 1, 2000, 50 percent beginning September 1, 2001, and 100 percent beginning September 1, 2002. The objective of this study is to determine driver awareness of LATCH (lower anchors and top tethers) in vehicles and compare it with actual use. (Author/publisher)
Abstract