Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Children riding in the rear seat of compact extended cab pickups are almost five times as likely to be injured in a crash as children riding in the back seats of other vehicles, a study says.
The disparity is due to lack of legroom and shoulder belts in the back of the trucks, according to a study by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia that appears today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Owner’s manuals warn against having children ride in the backs of the compact trucks. The auto industry considers the trucks "work vehicles, and children should not be riding in them," said Eron Shosteck, spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
Manufacturers’ instructions recommend that children be seated in the front seat of compact extended cab pickups.
Children in the compact extended cab pickups were nearly three times as likely to be injured as those in all other vehicles, with most of the discrepancy accounted for among back-seat passengers. Among children riding in the back seat, those in compact pickups were 4.75 times as likely to get hurt.
Children in the rear seat of the compact pickups were at more than twice the risk of injury as those in the back of full-sized pickups.
Most injuries occurred when children struck the vehicle’s interior, the study reported. The findings suggest padding in the rear seats is inadequate, said Dr. Flaura Winston, lead author of the report, which was financed by State Farm Insurance Co.
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