How many seats are there in a Ford SportKa?

Do I need to use booster seats in the jump seats on my ford Ranger?

• So I have 2 children. They are average sized 5 and six year olds. We purchased a Ford Ranger that has 2 "jump" seats in the back. Can we safely put the kids in the seats? Should we use their booster seats? Or no car seats at all? Thanks!! I also have a call into the pediatrition to see what their advice is.

• Answer:

  Sadly, jump seats do not protect kids (or adults) well in car crashes. Booster seats are designed to lift the child up so that the adult seat belt fits on a child's body. A booster boosts the child so that the lap belt is low on the hips and the shoulder belt fits against the collar bone. An ill-fitting seat belt is a dangerous seat belt. There is no benefit from using a booster seat with a 2 point seat belt. It is actually considered more dangerous to use a booster in a lap only seat belt because the there is a greater distance for the child's chest to travel. You also need to make sure that the booster seat is doing its job, which is correcting belt fit. Not all boosters correct belt fit for your child. If it doesn't correct belt fit for your child, then you need a different booster in that car in that seating position. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rates boosters on how well they fit an average 6 year old child in different seat belt configurations. The "best bet" rating will most likely result in good belt fit, but again, you need to check, to make sure the booster seat is doing its job. I would highly recommend that you let a professional check the belt fit. The only professionals are child passenger safety technicians (CPST). You can find one at http://www.seatcheck.org/ It should be absolutely FREE to get your child's seat checked. There aren't any car seats on the market that allow use on jump seats. 5 and 6 year olds need to be using boosters with 3 point seat belts in the back seat of a car. I would highly recommend that you go out and look for a different car. It doesn't have to be expensive. Just make sure that there are 3 point seat belts in the back seats. It would be MUCH safer for your children. Lap only seat belts have been known to cause severe injuries in a crash. Lap only belts restrain the lower body, however the upper body continues to travel forward, which can literally cut a person in half; a lap only belt puts the crash forces on the spine. Pediatricians are NOT the people you want to go to for car seat advice. Many pediatricians are misinformed about car seat safety. Car crashes are the leading cause of injury, disability, and death for children under 12 years of age. The ONLY person you can get advice for about car seats are from a qualified and up-to-date child passenger safety technician (CPST). You can find one at http://www.seatcheck.org These are trained professionals who know about car seats. http://www.car-seat.org has CPSTs to answer safety questions about children in cars. http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=54182 This link was about center-facing jump seats (if you ever go onto car-seat.org, the person is a CPST if on the left side, it says CPST by their name). Edit: The police department/ fire department aren't good resource about using car seats, unless the person there who gives you the info is a CPST. Some police departments/ Fire Stations across america have stopped giving out car seat checks because they didn't want to be liable for a child's death. I'm sorry, if I sounded like I was attacking you personally. Communication isn't just about the words you read, there is also tone, which you cannot hear. I just wanted to make it clear that it ain't possible to safely transport those kids in that vehicle. There are so many parents- 95% of them who don't know about car seats; and let me tell you that car seats manuals are confusing (I was so confused when I started out), which is why it is necessary to get them checked by a professional.