Car seats - what age?

[kellyglv]

I have a 4 1/2 year old , does anyone know if I need a car seat or need to use a booster for him to comply with Florida law?

 

[Night-train]

To quote Dollar's Documents and Important Information leaflet;

Article 13 - Infant Seats: By law, children under 5 years of age must be properly secured in a Federally approved child-passenger restraint. IMPORTANT - Parents/guardians will be asked to install these restraints themselves!

The part regarding the law is non-negotiable but the part about fitting the restraints varies from company to company. We've even had one fitted by a Dollar rep in the past!

 

[Hobbes]

When we went a couple of years back DNeph was just coming up for 4 so we had a car seat-now either he was a big lardy kid or American kids are very scrawny, but even loosening the straps as far as we could still left him looking like he was being garrotted! After 20 mins of his constant whining we figured if he was too big to fit in the car seat then a normal seat belt would be sufficient. Luckily we were never pulled over. I understand the rules are there yada yada but you'd think we could have been given a seat that an average 4 yo would fit in (and no, hes not lardy) They didn't offer us a booster seat instead- not sure if they do these or not.

 

[disneycymru]

I think it's always best to get any information straight from the horses mouth when considering legal matters. Below is a quote direct from the City of Orlando information for visitors:-

Seat Belts: Florida law requires all front seat passengers wear seatbelts regardless of age. All passengers, regardless of location in the vehicle, who are under 18 years of age must wear seat belts.

Car Seats: The following is taken from Florida law: “Every operator of a motor vehicle as defined herein, while transporting a child in a motor vehicle operated on the roadways, streets, or highways of this state, shall, if the child is 5 years of age or younger, provide for protection of the child by properly using a crash-tested, federally approved child restraint device. For children aged through 3 years, such restraint device must be a separate carrier or a vehicle manufacturer's integrated child seat. For children aged 4 through 5 years, a separate carrier, an integrated child seat, or a seat belt may be used.”

As you can see children between 4 and 5 can use an ordinary seat belt although to be safe and comfortable most will also need a booster seat which you can buy very cheaply at places such as WalMart, etc. Also for info almost without exception in my experience of over 10 visits if you hire a mini-van it will come with built-in "child restraints". The Car Hire companies make a lot of money out of Child Seats and I have even been hired a seat in the past when the mini-van I hired had already had one built-in, unfortunately I didin't discover this until 8 days into my holiday and my daughter found the intergrated seat much more comfortable!

The cost of Car Seats it can often be better value for money upgrading to a mini-van to have a properly fitted seat. The only caveat to this would be if you had a baby in which case the integrated seat wouldn't be quite so suitable.

Hope you find the above information useful.

 

[princess jackson]

Hi,

We have a booster seat from Halfords a cheap one.

Will this be acceptable to use DD is 4.

 

[Claire L]

Hi,

We have a booster seat from Halfords a cheap one.

Will this be acceptable to use DD is 4.

I would say as long as it has an EU approval stamp or British Kitemark then it will be ok.

Claire

 

[disneycymru]

Hi,

As you can see from Florida Law the only requirement is for a seat belt to be used on a 4 year old, so any booster seat would be fine as they are being restrainded by the seat belt. The booster only serves to make your DD more comfortable.

 

[jax100]

Last yr we had this issue. We paid for virgin's platinum insurance which included car seats.When they brought them to us it was proper hard brittax type car seats. DD could hardly move in it. She was 4.5 at the time. Our rep said she would not need a seat but could use the normal restraint with no booster.

This yr with my 5.5 and 4.5 we had done the same, but opted for the upgrade giving us a dodge caravan with built in car seats. This was like a booster cushion where ds could use the cushion as a booster and use the adult car restraint, or be completely strapped in if he wanted(often clipping it shut himself).

You will find, as other's have mentioned the law is children under 5 however denny's were handing out height charts with meals last week and it states that only when the child is 11 can they sit with an adult restraint.

Depending on the car you hire, a booster might be benificial if for no other reason than they can see out the window and also watch the traffic building up on the I4.

 

[kellyglv]

Thanks for your help , now we just have to decide whether to carry our booster with us or not .

 

[PhilUK]

We always took our own. Then you've got equipment you're happy with and the kids are comfortable!
Enjoy