The new service, called Fit for a Kid, will more than double the number of certified child safety seat inspectors in the United States. It will create the capacity to inspect and ensure proper installation of 800,000 seats annually, compared to about 30,000 inspected in the United States last year. Just as DaimlerChrysler checks your brakes, your tire pressure and all your vehicle's safety systems, we will now make sure child safety seats are properly installed in our vehicles. By doing more than any other automaker in the world to ensure that children are safely restrained in our vehicles, we know we will prevent countless injuries and deaths. Eaton noted that this is the latest in a series of safety initiatives in which DaimlerChrysler has taken leadership.
Traffic crashes are the leading killer of kids.
Studies show more than 60 percent of children killed in vehicles are unrestrained and more than 80 percent of children in safety seats are incorrectly restrained. Today DaimlerChrysler has set a new standard for child passenger safety for the entire auto industry. Susan Cischke, vice president of safety affairs for DaimlerChrysler, said it will take more than a year to train the full complement of 2,000 inspectors required for the program. She said the service will be launched with a pilot in early September 1999, and will be available nationwide starting in February 2000 when certified inspectors at 500 dealers will be trained and ready. An additional 500 dealers will be added six months later to create a network of 1,000 Fit for a Kid dealers.