Occupant kinematics with child safety seats tested under real world conditions.

This paper presents the findings of frontal and side crash tests, simulated with a horizontal accelerator, to assess the kinematic performance of child safety seats (CSSs) and their ability to prevent head impact when secured to the vehicle seat with a seat belt tension commonly achieved by the general public. It was found that the tethered 5-point CSS effectively limits head excursion and provides early crash ride down in both frontal and side impacts and is not significantly affected by lower seat belt tension. Its kinematic performance is significantly superior to the booster-with shield CSS.