Midmorning With Aundrea - December 15, 2020 (Part 1)

(Part 1 of 4) Some car booster seats are failing to protect children adequately.

And the pandemic has caused many of us to put on the pounds.

On a dateso some popular children's car booster seats are failing to adequately protect kids.

That's according to a congressional investigation that found that some manufacturers are unsafely recommending that children under 40 pounds and as light as 30 pounds can use booster seats.

The seats all passed side impact crash tests - but as kris van cleave reports, that's because there are no federal standards.

The videos are hard to watch.

Child-size dummies flail violently in car booster seats during a side impact crash test.

In each case the booster seats all passed& because there are no federal standards... it was just simply appalling.

Representatives raja krishnamoorthi and katie porter launched a house oversight committee investigation into seven brands of car booster seats their findings obtained by cbs news conclude: booster seat makers "endangered th lives of millions of american children and misled consumers about the safety of booster seats by failing to conduct appropriate side- impact testing, deceiving consumers with false and misleading statements&about their side-impact testing protocols and unsafely recommending that children under 40 pounds and as light as 30 pounds can use booster seats."

The report calls for the federal trade commission and state attorneys general to launch consumer protection investgations.

Parents are relying on companies to sell safe products and they are relying on the federal government to regulate those products.

When the manufacturer's guidance is, in fact, a bunch of falsehoods and lies, kids lives are being put at risk.

Doctor ben hoffman is a lead author of car seat recommendations for the american academy of pediatrics.

Kvc: would you have given any of the booster seats in those videos, a passing grade?

Hoffman: i can't imagine that i would give those a passing grade// the videos where the impact was on the far side//those were especially terrifying because there was so much movement of the head and neck of the dummy outside of the shell of the booster seat.

U-s regulators still allow for kids weighing as little as 30 pounds to be in a booster.

Jillian brown was 37 pound 5-year-old when the car she was riding in was hit from the side on the way to school.

Brown was strapped into her evenflo big kids booster seat.

Now nine years old, she's kept alive by a ventiatlor.

I would never have bought that if i had known, i would've left them in the front facing five- point harness for years.

Evenflo says her booster performed as designed and jillian's injuries were primarily due to the severity of the crash and / or driver error.

Adding the seat meets or execeeds federal standards and passed the company's internal crash tests.

The company settled a lawsuit with the brown family this summer.

Investigators found several makers have adopted a 40 pound minimum-evenflo and graco as recently as earlier this year.

But baby trend and kidsÓembrace continue to market their booster seats for children as little as 30 pounds.

Chicco's website now has a 40 pound minimum but we were able to buy this booster tuesday that says 30 pounds and up.

The companies' trade association says in a statement: "a correctly use car seat is a child's best defense in a car crash, reducing the risk of injury by 45 percent when compared with vehicle seats belts alone,"...adding... "the industr supports stringent federal standards."

So parents, what do you do?

Experts say kids in that 30-pound range are safest staying in a car seat like this that has that 5 point restraint until they grow out of it.

That's going to be at least 40 pounds, but some go up to 65.

This one even notes going to the booster seat at at least 40 pounds and 4 years old.

Kris van cleave, cbs news, washington.

The report is also critical of the national highway traffic safety administration.

Despite being directed by congress 20 years ago to create a side-impact crash test standard for car seats, the agency hasn't done it.

N-h-t-s-a says the process is "highly complex and a those standards are coming "soon.

The stress and life changes during the pandemic has led many of us to pack on the pounds.

The american academy of pediatrics is raising concerns about children's nutrition and physical activity during this difficult time.

Naomi ruchim has more on what parents need to know.

The adair family is adapting to many changes in the pandemic& from virtual learning to canceled sports and activities.

They're working hard to stay active and eat right.

A lot of family walks // online school made it a little bit harder to prepare meals.

So we have our instant pot pressure cooker that's been helping us make healthier meals it's been a challenge for many families.

Dr. lisa denike is a pediatrician with kaiser permanente.

We're seeing a lot of weight gain in children of all ages, which i think is mirroring lot of what we're seeing in their parents and families.

Dr. denike says we just don't burn as many calories in front of screens all day.

Being at home all day lends itself to constant snacking or grazing.

//the other is//eating is a coping skill.//it releases the feel good hormones in our brains when we eat.

New research shows an estimated 19 percent of children and adolescents in the us are obese..

Which can have long term health implications.

Obesity lends itself to a lot of health care issues in young adults.

And actually, even in older teens, we're seeing now a lot of type two diabetes, heart problems, kidney problems, high blood pressure dr. denike suggests parents schedule sleep and wake times, meals during the day and 30 to 60 minutes of sweaty physical activity daily.

And they need to be good role models.

Something joanna is embracing .

Doing these kinds of activities as a family, i think is really important because they see the parents wanting to get outside and take that walk and be healthy setting a good example and teaching resilience during a challenging time.

Naomi ruchim, cbs news.

Like adults, children and adolescents with obesity are at increased risk of severe covid-19 disease.

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What people wan to know a little later on mid morning.