National Survey of the Use of Booster Seats

The National Survey of the Use of Booster Seats (NSUBS) is a voluntary collection of restraint use information for children under 13. NSUBS is a biennial collection. Data collectors observe restraint use for all passenger vehicle occupants included in the survey and for those vehicles that voluntarily participate, the data collectors conduct a brief interview with the vehicle driver or other knowledgeable adult to determine the age, height, weight, race, and ethnicity of the child occupants and age of the driver. Data collectors do not collect personal identifying information such as names, addresses, phone number of participating vehicle occupants. Data collectors use paper forms to collect information at fast food restaurants, gas stations, day care centers, and recreation centers where vehicles are mostly likely to have child occupants. The contractor supplies an electronic file of the data collected to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The contractor creates replicate weights, derives analytic variables, and adds auxiliary information on state laws. NHTSA uses the NSUBS data to estimate booster seat use among 4- to 7-year-old children. It also estimates restraint use for all children under 13, race and ethnicity breakouts of restraint use among all occupants in a vehicle, and estimates the extent to which children are “prematurely transitioned” from one restraint type to others that are inappropriate for their age as well as height and weight. The survey produces biennial estimates of: • Restraint use by Age Group • Restraint use by Weight Group • Restraint use by Height Group • Restraint use by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) categories for Race/Ethnicity NHTSA also asks the adult drivers their age to analyze the impact of driver age on driver seat belt use and child restraint use. NHTSA will tabulate the survey data, analyze the results, and publish the data in technical reports. NHTSA plans to release the results and the electronic file of the data collected to the public. NHTSA uses the NSUBS information to design outreach programs to help ensure that more of the nation’s children are using restraints that will protect them in motor vehicle crashes. The survey data will allow programs to better reach the caretakers whose children are unrestrained or not using the best restraint choice for their children’s sizes. The findings may also be of interest to State legislatures wanting to strengthen their child restraint laws by enacting mandatory or enhanced booster seat use provisions. The survey was previously approved as OMB Control No. 2127-0644 (current expiration date: 06/30/2022). The new collection will increase the number of respondents from 4,800 drivers to 5,300 drivers based on the average number of drivers interviewed over the last three surveys. This increases the burden hours by 36 hours (from 340 hours to 376 hours). NHTSA continues to estimate that there are no costs associated with the information collection.

The latest form for National Survey of the Use of Booster Seats expires 2026-06-30 and can be found here.