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Ron Ananian, The Car Dr Interview - Dr. Jessica Jermakian, Insurance Institute Highway Safety - Child Passenger Safety Week

Ron Ananian, The Car Dr Interview - Dr. Jessica Jermakian, Insurance Institute Highway Safety - Child Passenger Safety Week

Ron Ananian The Car Doctor Sep 21, 2025 16 min
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About this episode

Dr. Jessica Jermakian from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety joins Ron Ananian to discuss Child Passenger Safety Week. They emphasize the importance of using appropriate child restraints and keeping kids in the back seat to enhance safety. Dr. Jermakian explains how child safety seats are crucial for protecting younger passengers, detailing when to transition from rear-facing to forward-facing seats. The conversation also touches on the dangers of airbags for children and the need for parents to model safe driving behaviors. Listeners are encouraged to seek resources for proper car seat installation and safety practices.

Topics: child passenger safety car seat installation rear-facing seats booster seats airbag safety back seat safety safety education parenting tips
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Welcome to the Ron Ananian, the CarDoctor podcast.
Ron takes your calls at 855-560-9900
to help you solve your automotive problems.
But he also does great interviews like this one.
Hey, you know what next week is?
Welcome back by the way.
Next week is September 21st through the 27th.
It's Child Passenger Safety Week.
And this is a subject near and dear to my heart,
you know, a grandpa now, right?
Two grandchildren.
And I always look at the how car seats are set up
in vehicles that come into the shop.
And I wonder if they're set up right.
And I see some goofy things that parents do.
And I thought to get Child Passenger Safety Week
off to a great start.
We've reached out to the Insurance Institute
for Highway Safety.
They're based out of Virginia.
And here to talk about it is Dr. Jessica Jermankian.
Armenian, sort of.
We've established that, right, doctor?
Yes, sort of.
I married into the name.
Right.
So, and in all fairness, right?
I've given you the briefing on,
I'll give you my pillow of rest of feet
after the interview.
It sounds perfect.
You'll be all set.
So tell us about the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
and where is it?
And what is it exactly that you folks do?
Yeah, sure.
So the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety,
we're located in Virginia.
We have our Vehicle Research Center,
which is where we crash vehicles
and do tests on vehicles out on our track.
We're funded solely by auto insurers.
And our mission is to reduce property damage, injury,
and fatalities in crashes.
So keeping our roads safer.
And we do that through research and communications.
Many people know us through our vehicle ratings program
where we rate vehicles on how safe they are.
So you'll look at vehicles,
you'll look at how it crashes,
and then rate it and say,
well, this vehicle is a seven
and this vehicle is a six and so on and so forth.
Something like that, a little bit more like,
this is good, this is marginal,
this is poor performance.
And we bundle all of our awards,
all of our ratings into an award
that we call Top Safety Pick.
So if you hear that on advertising,
that comes from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
But it's important to remember that we do a lot of work
across the whole spectrum of traffic safety,
not just focused on vehicles,
but we also look at infrastructure, driver behavior,
pedestrian cyclists, all of it.
So if I put my kid in a top rated safe vehicle,
why do I need to use a child restraint?
Well, putting them in a top rated safe vehicle
is a good first start,
but the thing is vehicle seats and restraint systems
are designed for adults and kids are smaller.
The adult restraint systems don't fit them.
And not only are they smaller,
but they also don't have the same proportions
and they aren't fully developed.
And so they have special needs
throughout different parts of their life.
So we know how to protect kids in crashes,
but they do need special equipment
in certain parts of their development
to make sure they're getting the best protection in a crash.
So Dr. Jermakian, when we look at this,
if I'm a parent, if I'm a new parent
and I'm trying to set my child up,
I wanna start driving with them.
What are the top things parents need to keep in mind
when they're using either a child restraint
or a booster seat?
How do I keep my kids safe in a car
when I'm picking out these things?
Well, so the most important thing
is to make sure your child is buckled up
on every trip, no matter how short.
Then we really want kids to be in the right seat
for their age and size.
So as I mentioned before,
children are in different child restraint types
throughout their, you know, from infancy up until
they are able to use the adult belts alone
and those needs change during that time.
So we wanna make sure that the child is in the right seat
for their age and size.
And then we of course wanna make sure
that they're snugly restrained in that child safety seat.
So with the harness snug or the vehicle belt snug.
So, you know, is some of this a conversation
about how much does the child weigh?
How big is the child tall, not just necessarily weight?
And then there's gotta be a conversation in here.
At some point, we turn the child from facing rear
to facing forward, which is, you know,
that's kind of like we made potty training.
That's like a big deal, right?
You know, and how do we go through all that?
Yeah, how do we go through all that?
Exactly, well, so the youngest kids,
we need them to be rear facing
and ideally until they reach the height
or weight limit of the seat.
But we need them to be rear facing at least until age two.
The car seat shell spreads those forces,
those crash forces across their body and head
and protects their undeveloped necks
in the event of a crash.
So it's really important.
The fact is we'd all be safer rear facing.
But we need those youngest kids
because they have those less developed necks
and their heads are proportionally very large.
And that could put a lot of forces on the neck
in the event of a crash.
So parents shouldn't be in a rush
to turn their kids forward facing.
They should keep them rear facing for as long as possible.
And they should keep them in the back seat, right?
You know, I see some parents,
well, I want to keep my eye on the baby.
So I put the baby in the car in the seat next to me,
you know, not thinking about in the event,
God forbid, of an accident, the airbag goes off.
Yes, it's very important that kids remain in the back seat,
especially absolutely for rear facing kids.
When airbags first came out in the mid-90s,
we had lots of tragedies of where children were
in the front seats and were injured
or killed by deploying airbags.
And so we had a very successful education campaign
and getting parents to understand
that they need to keep their kids in the back.
So that recommendation still holds.
We want kids 12 and under to still be in the back seat.
The good news is that airbags have changed a lot
since the mid-90s.
So we do have some protections in place in the front seat
to make them more friendly when maybe occupants
are not in a great initial position.
But the evidence still shows that kids
are still safest in the back seat.
So listen, I'm gonna, you know, I'm a parent
and I want to sit and I want to talk to my kid.
He's 10 years old.
We're gonna go fishing this morning.
I'm gonna put him in the front of the pickup truck
next to me and I can turn my airbag off.
How big of a disaster is that?
How many things am I doing wrong there?
Even though he's in a seat belt.
Now he's got no airbag.
How big of a problem is that, doctor?
Yeah, so one of the reasons we recommend kids 12
and under sit in the back seat is it's not just
about age and size, but it's also about maturity.
And we wanna make sure that kids can sit in that seat
in front of the airbag, sit with, you know,
all the way back in the seat and not get themselves
in a position where they could interact
with a deploying airbag.
So it's really important that kids 12 and younger
stay in the back seat.
And, you know, I know you wanna talk to,
I know you wanna talk to your kid going on the fishing trip,
but you can do that right in the, you know,
right from front seat to back seat.
Right through the rear view mirror.
And it's just, because I see it,
that to me is one of the biggest sources of tragedy.
I can't tell you how many cars come through the shop
and they don't come through it a second time
because I scold them enough the first time.
Take the seat and put it behind you.
You don't need to do that
because I don't think people understand
the exploding force of an airbag
and how that's like a shotgun blast going off in your face
to a large degree.
So to a child that can be fatal, you know.
Yeah, and it's really important
that all of us stay away from,
like if we're sitting in an appropriate position
in, you know, either the driver's seat
or the front passenger seat,
we are in a good position in the event of a crash.
You know, the airbag will deploy and we will move into it.
The problem comes when people get too close to it
when it deploys.
Right, right.
Dr. Jamaican, Ron and Annie and the car doctor
and I will both be back right after this.
Doctor, you can stick around.
I'm sorry I should have asked that before I assumed.
Right, you can stick around a couple of minutes.
Yes, I'm happy to stick around.
Thank you so much.
Let's pull over, take the pause.
I'm Ron and Annie and the car doctor.
I'll be back right after this.
I'm Stefan Curry and this is Gentleman's Cut.
I think what makes Gentleman's Cut different
is me being a part of, you know,
developing the profile of this beautiful finished product
with every sip you get a little something different.
Visit Gentleman'sCutBurban.com
or your nearest Total Wines or Besmo.
This message is intended for audiences 21 and older.
Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, Boone County, Kentucky.
For more on Gentleman's Cut Bourbon,
please visit Gentleman'sCutBurban.com.
Please enjoy responsibly.
Hey, it's us.
We came back.
Ron and Annie and the car doctor,
I'm here with Dr. Jamaican
from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
We're talking about how next week
is Child Passenger Safety Week,
but we like to think of Child Passenger Safety Week
as every week, right doctor?
Absolutely, but it is nice to have a week
that reminds us that we should be thinking about,
you know, restraining our kids on every trip
and buckling up ourselves.
Right, and being safe in the car
because it is a two-ton projectile
going down the road at 65, 70 miles an hour, you know.
Now, I remember as a kid,
my dad had a rug story at a 63 Ford Galaxy station wagon.
You know, one of those things with the,
everything was metal inside the car.
And, you know, I'm going to the airport,
jumping the back of the car and dad would drive
and my brother and I, we'd roll around
in the back of the station wagon loose.
How dangerous was, you know,
are kids safer today or was it okay
because that car was made more out of metal?
No, you were lucky that you didn't have
any serious crashes in that situation,
but kids are safer today than they've ever been.
Kids, child deaths in crashes have been cut in half
in the last 20 years.
We, and that's for a few reasons.
Cars are safer for everyone.
We already talked about that.
And more kids are in child restraints than ever before.
That is a big success story.
We've had good education campaigns.
We've had stricter laws that have been effective,
but we know that parents want to keep their kids safe.
So we want to give the parents tools to,
and the information they need
to best protect their kids in a crash.
Right.
Is there a way, and obviously the first way
to set a good example for their kids,
parents shouldn't let them roll around
in the back of a 63 Ford Galaxy station wagon,
but is there things that parents can do today
to show their kids, hey, this is car safety,
this is what you need to do?
Well, yeah, of course.
Your kids are always watching you.
So it's good to model good, safe behavior in the car.
It starts, of course, with buckling up on every trip,
but it also extends to things like distractions
or staying off your cell phone,
generally being a safe driver.
And it's important to remember
that while your kids are young now,
they will grow into teens who drive
and they're watching you and learning how to drive safely.
Another thing that I like to tell parents
is that safety is non-negotiable.
Like you can negotiate some things
like meal times and bed times,
but safety is not negotiable.
And so it's important to hold that line
that it's important that we be safe in the vehicle.
You only get one chance to not have the accident.
I like to think that one moment to be safe.
So besides setting the good example,
besides putting them in restraints and booster seats
and so forth and doing all those right things,
other comments, other ideas,
keeping their kids safe both in and around cars?
Well, of course, the most important is to buckle up
on every trip in the right restraint for their age
and size, tightly secured in the vehicle
and the child in the child restraint.
But also kids are out and about,
they're pedestrians, they're cyclists.
And so important things to remember,
always wear a helmet when cycling,
practice safe walking,
follow the rules of the road as a pedestrian,
don't dart out into the road.
Also really important to be aware
of where your children are relative to your car
when you move it.
There are so many tragedies with kids getting into cars,
whether being left in cars or getting in them themselves.
So keep cars locked so kids don't enter
when you're not around.
Jessica, I've got two comments in our last minute.
One, react to this.
The parents driving a car, the airbag lights on,
which means the airbag won't work in an accident.
15 seconds or less, what are your thoughts?
How would you address that?
What's so bad about that?
Well, airbags are important protection
for people in the vehicle.
And so if your airbag light is on,
I would suggest you call your mechanic.
Well, because isn't it so that,
just the crush zone, the protection zone of the vehicle
is designed to work with an airbag and without it.
Now we're losing safety effectiveness now.
Absolutely.
Yep, okay.
Where can the listeners go get more information?
I think there's a bunch of website
and resources out there for them.
We have lots of information on our website,
how things like how to pick the right seat,
how to install it, how to know when to move
from one restraint to the next.
You can find that information on our website
at IIHS.org slash kids.
We also have great information for teen drivers
and parents of teen drivers.
Cool beans.
Well, we're gonna get you back.
I wanna talk about, we were talking before,
all fair about picking a car for your teenager.
So that's gonna be a future conversation between you and I.
Dr. Jamakyan, it was an absolute pleasure.
I appreciate the time
and you're always welcome back to the car doctor.
You be well.
Thanks so much for having me.
You're very welcome.
I'm Ron Ananey in the car doctor.
I'll be back right after this.
I'm Stefan Curry and this is Gentleman's Cut.
I think what makes Gentleman's Cut different
is me being a part of developing the profile
of this beautiful finished product.
With every sip, you get a little something different.
Visit gentlemenscutburban.com
or your nearest Total Wines or Bevmo.
This message is intended for audiences 21 and older.
Gentleman's Cut Burban, Boone County, Kentucky.
For more on Gentleman's Cut Burban,
please visit gentlemenscutburban.com.
Please enjoy responsibly.
Thank you again to Dr. Jamakyan
and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
and all that they're trying to do to raise our awareness.
The road is a very unforgiving place.
And I think of this all the time
and you're strapping a child into that vehicle.
Make sure the child is safe.
Make sure the car seat is approved.
There are resources.
There are places that you can go to get more information.
What's the best car seat?
What's the best way to put it in?
And I can't emphasize enough
the conversation that we had
with regards to when do you turn the child forward
and when do you allow them to sit in the front seat?
Because I see it every day in the shop.
I see the mistakes the parents are making.
And one of the things we didn't talk about
and it occurred to me during the pause
over the last break that I have to ask her,
we're gonna have her back again.
I have to talk to her about how safer vehicles
where there's loose stuff in there.
Do the things on the back shelves of cars
become projectiles in the event of an accident.
And the debris that seems to be collected in vehicles today
because it seems like we travel
with a lot of junk in our cars.
And I wonder if that has any effect on safety
and becomes a danger in the event of an accident.
But for now, we'll focus on child safety,
car seat week coming up next week.
And like she said, more information
out at the website iihs.org.
And you can see everything that they're doing
in terms of keeping us better informed
and keeping us safe about on the road
and how to do things.
And it's very easy to see the danger of the road.
It really is.
Just go travel any interstate, try and do the speed limit,
try and stay out of the way of everybody
that's driving kind of crazy.
So don't be one of them.
Let's be safe.
And like I say, let's arrive alive.
Boy, there's a saying from the past.
So, but anyway, again, thank you to Dr. Jermakian
and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
I'm Ronan Ani and the car doctor.
Until the next time, good mechanics aren't expensive.
They're priceless.
See ya.
I'm Stefan Curry and this is Gentleman's Cut.
I think what makes Gentleman's Cut different
is me being a part of developing the profile
of this beautiful finished product
with every sip you get a little something different.
Visit Gentleman'sCutBurban.com
or your nearest Total Wines or Bevmo.
This message is intended for audiences 21 and older.
Gentleman's Cut Bourbon, Boone County, Kentucky.
For more on Gentleman's Cut Bourbon,
please visit Gentleman'sCutBurban.com.
Please enjoy responsibly.
Cats are masters at using up their nine lives,
like chasing laser pointers into walls
or jumping onto high shelves.
But the one thing cats never do, text while driving.
So be like a cat and protect your one and only life.
Don't text and drive.
Don't drive distracted.
A message brought to you by the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration,
Project Yellow Light and the Ad Council.
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