Your Child’s Car Seat May Be a Poor Match for Your Car

Children’s car seats often do not fit properly inside family vehicles, which could reduce their safety and effectiveness, a new study indicates.

The researchers found that 42 percent of the time, children’s car seats are not compatible with the size and shape of vehicles’ seats.

Parents or caregivers who use towels and pool noodles to try to help a child’s car seat fit inside their car may be further compromising proper installation, the study authors added.

“I want to emphasize that all car seats are safe and have passed federal regulations. But, to really optimize the safety of a child’s car seat and provide the best protection for the child, one must make sure it fits properly in the vehicle,” study author Julie Bing, a research engineer at Ohio State College of Medicine’s Injury Biomechanics Research Center, said in a university news release.

“We want to encourage parents to take measurements of their car in order to make the most informed decision when choosing the safest car seat option for their child,” Bing added.

In the study, the researchers compiled the dimensions of 61 vehicles, as well as 59 child car seats, and compared them to identify those that were the least compatible.

After analyzing 3,600 possible child safety seat-vehicle combinations and examining 34 actual installations, the investigators found that less than 60 percent of rear-facing infant seat-vehicle combinations resulted in a proper fit, in which the vehicle seat angle and the car seat base angle met manufacturers’ requirements.

In more than 63 percent of rear-facing child seat-vehicle combinations and more than 62 percent of combinations involving forward-facing child car seats, the width of the base of the car seats fit securely between the vehicle’s seat pan bolsters, the findings showed.

Meanwhile, in more than 66 percent of combinations, forward-facing child car seats didn’t back up against the vehicle’s headrests.

The researchers cautioned parents to confirm that the angles of the seats in their vehicle and their child’s safety seat align properly, taking into account for the vehicle’s headrest.

“We recommend parents go to the store and ask if they can take the model off the shelf and go out to their car and try it,” Bing said. “It might look great on the shelf and have all the greatest safety ratings but, if it doesn’t fit in your vehicle, it may not be the best option for you.”

The study was published in the Oct. 5 online edition of the journal Traffic Injury Prevention.

12 Things You Should Definitely Know About Your Clit

12 Things You Should Definitely Know About Your Clit

Your clitoris is an integral part of having a good time in bed, but how much do you actually know about it? Unlike penises, which literally let it all hang out, your goods are a bit more tucked away and compact—but that doesn’t mean they need to remain a mystery.

“All you need is a hand mirror to explore,” says Mary Jane Minkin, M.D., clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Yale School of Medicine. May we suggest whipping one out as a reading companion to these facts?

Chances are, when you think of your clitoris, you’re only focusing on the clitoral head, or the pea-sized nub of pleasure hiding out beneath the clitoral hood. “Beyond the head, there’s a three- to five-inch-long structure that stems inward along the vaginal canal,” says Sadie Allison, Ph.D., author of Tickle Your Fancy: A Woman’s Guide to Sexual Self-Pleasure.

They’re just a little smaller than men’s. Your clitoris is made up of the same spongy erectile tissue as a penis. “When you’re aroused, blood flow to the tissue causes it to engorge,” says Allison. Clitoral and penile erectile tissue are the same because all embryos start off with a vulva. “If the embryo’s second chromosome is a Y, the clitoris grows longer and becomes a penis and the outer labia grow into testicles instead,” says Allison.

Learn other fun facts about your body:

The legs are shaped like a wishbone, and they also swell with blood when you’re turned on. “What people call a vaginal orgasm could very well be clitoral because the crura legs are being stimulated along the vaginal walls,” says Allison. Here’s a little bit of (very fun) homework: The next time you’re super turned on, run your finger pads up and down the inside of your inner labia. Press against your skin, and you might notice what feels like two swollen veins. Those are your crura! "Every body is different," says Allison. "You may not be able to feel it, but it’s worth exploring when you’re in that state."

Its official name is the commissure, and it’s a lot like the foreskin of a man’s penis. Think of it as your clit’s bodyguard, keeping all that sensitive tissue safe from irritants. There’s also a shaft right under the clitoral hood to help connect the head and legs.

It’s a serious hub of pleasure: your clitoris packs around 8,000 nerve endings into its small real estate. “That’s about two to three times more than the amount in the head of a penis,” says Allison. “It’s the reason why so many men don’t understand how gentle they may need to be with a clitoris.” Don’t be shy if you need to tell him to go for feather-light strokes instead of jamming it like a doorbell.