A protective child restraint device for use on an automotive vehicle seat has a spaced pair of opposite vertical side panels adapted to rest directly on the bottom side of the vehicle seat on opposite sides of a child sitting directly on the vehicle seat, and a generally cylindrical spacer member extending between and releasably secured to opposite top front corner portions of the side panels. Front edge portions of the side panels have specially designed, generally L-shaped slots formed therein for securely receiving and retaining one of the vehicle's seat belts, and rear bottom corners of the side panels have rearwardly extending, generally triangularly shaped projections thereon which are receivable between the bottom of the vehicle seat back and the bottom side portion of the seat to thereby stabilize the child restraint device against forward tipping. In a first alternate embodiment of the restraint device, the spacer member is replaced with a generally rectangular shield member that protects the child from a deploying passenger side air bag when the restraint device is used on the passenger side of the vehicle's front seat. In a second alternate embodiment of the restraint device, adjustable bracing bars are connected to opposite sides of the top end of the shield member and extend to the vehicle seat backrest portion to substantially prevent rearward deflection of the shield member in the event that it is struck by a deploying passenger side air bag.
A child's vehicle seat with an improved mounting system (1), where a seat belt (2) is employed for attaching a child's seat. A first portion (3) of the seat belt is positioned substantially horizontally over a forwardly facing portion of the child seat's backrest (4). The child seat's backrest (4) has receiving portions for receiving the seat belt's first portion (3). The mounting system is further characterised in that a second portion (5) of the seat belt is positioned substantially horizontally over or under a forwardly facing part of the child seat's sitting portion (6).
