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American Morning

Booster Seat Campaign Begins

Aired April 30, 2001 - 09:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go ahead and start with children, cars, and safety. Most of us know to buckle up when we get into a car and to put small children into car seats, but what about children who are too big for car seats, but they're still too small to be buckled up in a regular seat? Safety experts say the answer is booster seats, and today they're hoping to boost awareness on -- of the devices.

Our Patty Davis joining us from Washington with details -- Patty, good morning.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

You know, child booster seats are the least used child-safety seats and Boost America is working to change that. It's Ford and others that have joined together to launch $30-million campaign -- educational campaign as well as giving away some of these child booster seats to raise awareness to encourage their use.

Now here's who they work for. You want to use a booster seat if a child is aged about 4 to 8 years old, some 40 points to 80 pounds. Now that is when your child has grown out of their infant or their toddler or their child-safety seat that they would use in the back seat of a car normally.

Now you would strap -- how this works is the booster seat lifts them up a bit. You strap them on -- in the big seat under the normal adult restraint, and they're -- they're up enough that that's a safe way to restrain them.

Now a new survey finds that, while 88 percent of parents and care givers say that they have heard of these booster seats, only 21 percent use them, and only three states -- that's Arkansas, California, Washington State -- have laws requiring child booster seats.

Ford and others, part of Boost America Now in Washington, D.C., plan to give away a lot of these seats, about a million of them, over the next year as well as lobby on Capitol Hill to try to get a nationwide law passed requiring that these booster seats are used in all 50 states -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Patty Davis in Washington. Thank you very much. Joining us to talk more about Ford Motor Company's role in the booster seat campaign is the president and CEO, Jacques Nasser. He's also in Washington this morning.

Mr. Nasser, good morning. Thanks for joining.

JACQUES NASSER, CEO, FORD MOTOR COMPANY: Good morning.

KAGAN: Were you shocked about the lack of information that most Americans have about the importance of booster seats?

NASSER: What's important for us is that we continue to communicate it because there is a period and -- a time period where the child seats and the seat belts are not as effective, between 4 and 8 years old and about 80 -- 40 to 80 pounds, and the whole aim of Boost America, with Ford Motor Company and its partners, is to communicate the benefits and as part of that to create a market for booster seats, and...

KAGAN: And you're not just talking about the importance. You're actually providing the product so people really don't have an excuse not to have these seats in their cars for the kids.

NASSER: We do, and I think, as part of a fast start, we plan to district a million booster seats over the next 12 months, and the whole aim there is make sure that we get them in the hands of children that need these seats and to do it in a way that is fast and quick and efficient.

KAGAN: And then take it the next step and also try to encourage states to have legislation so that parents are mandated to have safer seats for their kids.

NASSER: We think that's important, and we'll work hand in hand with the legislators. It's important that we communicate the benefits and, at the same time, that we encourage good common-sense, practical legislation.

KAGAN: Part of this campaign -- Ford Motor Company is trying to make sure that these booster sets get in the hands of folks who perhaps otherwise couldn't afford them. If people out there would like information about that, what should they do?

NASSER: Well, about 500,000 of the seats will be distributed through United Way, and United Way will not only handle the distribution but also the selection of the most needy families and circumstances.

KAGAN: Mr. Nasser, your critics out there and the critics of Ford are going to maybe be cynical and say this is just an opportunity for Ford to try to turn around what has been a very bad P.R. year in terms of the bad P.R. your company has gotten with the -- with Firestone and the rollovers of the Ford Explorer. What would you say to those people?

NASSER: Well, I -- there'll always be cynics, even when you're trying to do good things for families and the planet in general, but we announced this about a year ago, well before any of the tire issues with Firestone, and it's unrelated to that. Obviously, it's a concern that we have for families and children and safety, and it's consistent and aligned with the safety creed of the Ford Motor Company.

KAGAN: And what kind of update can you give us, sir, about trying to make the Ford Explorer safer for the kids and everybody who's driving in them?

NASSER: The Ford Explorer is a very safe vehicle. It's obviously been -- it's been endorsed by recent data from the government agencies. It's one of the safest vehicles on the roads, and we will always look after our customers in, and we feel passionate about that. So I'd encourage people to drive safely, buckle up their seat belts.

KAGAN: But does the company continue to look at issues that have been brought to light especially by letters like the National Highway Transportation Board and other investigations and other trials? Are you continuing to look at those issues to try to make the Explorer even safer?

NASSER: We'll always do that. We said we'd be driven by the data, and if further information comes to light on any tires, we'll always look at that, and we'll do what's right for our customers.

KAGAN: Jacques Nasser, Ford Motor Company, thanks for joining us today. And good luck with the booster campaign.

NASSER: Thank you very much.

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