Auto Club, CHP and Babies 'R' Us Ask Parents to Trash Old, 'Unsafe' Child Safety Seats

--Automobile Club of Southern California:

WHO:   The Automobile Club of Southern California, the California
       Highway Patrol and Babies 'R' Us.

WHAT:  News conference and demonstration of "unsafe" child safety
       seats. Many old seats will be destroyed and crushed in a refuse
       truck. There will be a demonstration of the proper way to
       secure a child in a safety seat. 

WHEN:  Monday, Feb. 13, 2006, at 10 a.m.

WHERE: Auto Club Downtown Los Angeles Headquarters Building at 2601 S.
       Figueroa (at the corner of Adams Blvd.) 

WHY:   Feb. 13-18 is National Child Passenger Safety Week. The Auto
       Club and the California Highway Patrol are leaders in the field
       of child passenger safety. Many parents have children riding in
       old car seats with the mistaken idea that they are safe. In
       many cases, the old seats are expired or may have been in
       crashes. Parents are encouraged to replace these potentially
       unsafe car seats with new ones. The Auto Club and Babies 'R' Us
       are providing thousands of discount coupons for the purchase of
       a new child passenger safety seat.

Editor's Note: Many parents use hand-me-down safety seats or purchase
               safety seats used from garage sales, flea markets or
               thrift stores. Without knowing a seat's history, you
               cannot know if it has been in a crash, has been
               recalled or if it is expired. Children are safest in
               new safety seats; if not a new seat, then one that is
               less than five years old. Seats between 5-9 years old
               may be safe only if its history is known. A child
               should never be placed in a safety seat that is more
               than nine years old.