BURLINGTON, VT – At car seat safety checkpoints across the country, experts find major safety issues with four out of every five car seats. Correcting the problems, which range from incorrect installation to parents using recalled seats, is a key mission for Safe Kids Vermont.

To help with that mission, by inspecting as many car seats as possible, Safe Kids Vermont has received a 2007 Chevrolet Express Cargo Van courtesy of General Motors through a partnership with Safe Kids Worldwide and Chevrolet/General Motors.

Safe Kids Vermont received its new van Friday, September 7, at Cody Chevrolet in Montpelier.

"We are very excited about this new van," said Susan Victory, program manager of Vermont Children’s Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care and Safe Kids Vermont coordinator. "We travel all over the state, holding more than 50 safety events each year, so this will make our work much easier. It will allow for more storage of the needed items for a Car Seat Safety check point and will allow us to stay safely on the road to provide a safe ride for the children of our state."

In Vermont, every child up to the age of eight is required by law to be using an appropriate car seat or booster seat. There are height and weight recommendations which may result in use after eight years of age.

The van will be used for the Safe Kids Vermont Buckle-Up program, in partnership with Vermont Governor's Highway Safety Program. It replaces the current Safe Kids van, which has traveled more than 80,000 miles over the past eight years.

For more information about Safe Kids Vermont, call 802-847-7055 or visit www.usa.safekids.org. For more information about local car safety seat events, call 1-888-TOT-SEAT.

Safe Kids Vermont works to prevent accidental childhood injury, the leading killer of children 14 and under. Safe Kids Vermont is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing accidental injury. Safe Kids Vermont was founded in 1990 and Vermont Children’s Hospital at Fletcher Allen Health Care is the lead organization.