A new review from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that car booster seat makers have improved in their efforts to ensure a proper fit for children in the back seat. According to the review, 21 out of 72 booster seats evaluated for properly restraining children have received top marks. This is an improvement over the nine out of 60 seats that received good reviews last year.

How the Seats Were Reviewed
The institute reviewed booster seats for children between the ages of 4 and 8 by how well they were able to elevate the children so that seat belts could fit them better. The seat belt is meant to route across the child’s upper thigh and across the middle of the shoulder to provide the best protection in a crash.

The idea is to make sure each seat did its job consistently among different children and in various types of vehicles
The reason these booster seats failed testing was because engineers found that they provided poor belt fit (the lap belt came too high on the child’s stomach or the shoulder belt was too close to the child’s neck).

While constantly finding ways to make your vehicle safer on the road could help lower your long-term auto insurance rates, finding ways to make your vehicle safer for your little ones will improve your state of mind while driving as you eliminate the nagging fear that they won’t be secure in an accident.

As you’re choosing booster seats, be sure to keep the IIHS top safety picks in mind to make sure your children have safe excursions every time you get behind the wheel.