CarMax, Inc., the nation's leading specialty retailer of used vehicles, and the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) announced that the CarMax Foundation has made a $50,000 donation to fund the immediate startup of the National Partnership on Booster Seat Safety. The partnership will serve as a catalyst to increase usage of booster seats. Booster seats make standard seat belts fit children better, primarily 4-to-8-year-olds, who have outgrown forward-facing child seats.

The National Partnership on Booster Seat Safety will share messages about booster seat safety with health care professionals, public health organizations, schools, corporations, policymakers and especially drivers who are responsible for older children's safety.

Parents depend upon the government for guidance about how to appropriately restrain their children in motor vehicles. However, many states have not yet adopted booster seat laws. In those states, children who are less than 4 feet, 9 inches tall are not afforded the safest possible ride. Many parents are unaware that children beyond the toddler stage are riding at an increased risk if not riding in a correctly installed booster seat until they are large enough to use a seat belt.