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Along With Tire Safety Bill, Senate Committee OKs Car Seat Plan

21 September 2000

Along With Tire Safety Bill, Senate Committee OKs Fitzgerald Car Seat Plan
    WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 The Senate Commerce Committee today
approved two road safety measures in the wake of the Firestone tire scandal,
including a plan by U.S. Senator Peter G. Fitzgerald (R-Illinois) to improve
safety standards for child car seats.
    "Car crashes are the leading cause of death among children in this
country," said Fitzgerald, citing statistics indicating that as many as 600
children under the age of five are killed each year in car accidents.  "The
stories we've heard during the past few months about faulty tires and tragic
car crashes remind us how dangerous the road can be, and how important it is
to make sure our children are safe when they ride in the car.  This important
legislation will help ensure that the car seats and booster seats we trust to
protect our kids are up to the task."
    Fitzgerald's legislation calls on the federal government to modernize its
outdated testing methods for child safety seats, expand efforts to protect
children in various types of collisions, and close the "child safety gap" that
leaves older children unprotected.  The measure also calls for new federal
regulations to ensure greater protection against head injuries in side-impact
collisions, and instructs NHTSA, the federal agency responsible for testing
child safety seats, to provide parents with accurate, easy-to-understand
information they can use to decide which car seat or booster is best for their
children.
    Fitzgerald teamed with Senators Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat, and
Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican, to propose these reforms, which will
help protect children against injuries and death in automobile crashes.
Fitzgerald, Lincoln, and Santorum, the three youngest members of the U.S.
Senate, are all parents of young children.
    "If we have learned anything from the recent tire scandal, it's that we
must pay close attention to safety standards and enforcement," said Lincoln.
"We've made great strides in injury prevention and travel safety over the last
25 years.  It's time to put that knowledge to work for our children.  This
legislation offers simple, smart solutions toward improving the safety of
children when they travel."
    "As a father of five small children, I understand first-hand the need to
ensure that our children are safe when traveling in automobiles," said
Santorum.  "Recent transportation safety concerns illustrate the critical need
to proactively protect consumers, especially children.  This bill offers a
common sense approach toward safeguarding our children and giving parents a
greater peace of mind."
    "As the father of a young boy, I am concerned that NHTSA's crash testing
methods and safety standards have not been updated since the 1970s.  In many
cases, child safety seat standards in the U.S. fall below standards of other
countries," Fitzgerald said.  "For example, the agency still tests car seats
using a test bench from a 1970s-era Chevy Impala.  These standards clearly
need to be revised to better reflect the vehicles on the road today."
    Fitzgerald's bill also urges NHTSA to test some car seats in actual cars
instead of in simulators only, and calls on the agency to test child seat
performance in a wider range of possible collisions.  NHTSA currently tests
seats only in head-on collisions, even though side-impact, rear-impact, and
rollover collisions account for about half of all child automobile fatalities.
    Current child safety seat standards also ignore a significant number of
children who, like Fitzgerald's 8-year-old son, have outgrown car seats but
may still be too small for regular adult seat belts.  These "forgotten
children," consequently, may be at greater risk than other passengers.
Fitzgerald's legislation requires NHTSA to take steps to close this safety gap
as quickly as possible.
    The bill also includes an amendment by Commerce Committee Chairman John
McCain (R-Arizona) directing the Department of Transportation to develop a
consumer outreach plan for encouraging proper booster seat use for young
children.
    "This bill includes important reforms to improve the safety features and
performance of car seats and provide parents with the information they need to
choose the best safety seat for their children," Fitzgerald concluded.  "I am
encouraged by the Commerce Committee's vote today, and I hope the full Senate
will pass the bill this year."