Be Cautious of Children Unfastening Seatbelts, Study Shows

Seatbelt safety is a big issue for parents – learning to correctly strap in a car seat and then correctly strap a child into that seat can be a challenge. But a new study is adding another layer of concern for parents – what do you do when your young child can unfasten his or her own seatbelt?

Department of Pediatrics researchers at the Yale School of Medicine conducted a survey of 378 parents with children under 6 (the study involved 621 children in total). They found that of these children, 40 percent have at one time or another unbuckled their own seatbelt (nearly half of those from a 5-point harness), and 43 percent of those children had done it while the vehicle was moving.

The findings raise an interesting issue – what should parents do when their child learns how to free themselves from a safety belt? The general consensus says that the best thing to do is to prepare for the issue before it happens.

"As a start, parents should be aware of this safety hazard and enforce that children should not unbuckle until it is done by caregiver, or told by guardian that it's okay,” the study’s lead author Dr. Lilia Reyes said. “Further, research should be done to address which restraint device would be safer.”

Parents in the study also suggested that when the issue actually arises in a moving car, the best thing to do is to stay calm, pull the car over, and refasten the belt, all the while delivering a stern lecture to the child.

Both parents and researchers agree that the worst thing to do would be to panic and risk a serious accident by trying to look over your shoulder at the child or refasten the belt while operating the vehicle.