Mythbusters: Killer Tissue Box on today...

[UlrikeDG]

This is a good one to watch regarding the safety of unrestrained cargo in the vehicle. It's on Discovery today (http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/daily.html) at 5 pm CST (6 pm Eastern). "'Killer Tissue Box' is an investigation into whether a tissue box can become a lethal missile in a car crash."

[MomToEliEm]

Oh, that episode was a good one. It made me a little less paranoid about keeping the tissue box on the floor in the car (though I have to keep the bowling balls and axes in the trunk).

[wendytthomas]

(though I have to keep the bowling balls and axes in the trunk).

*snicker*

[skaterbabscpst]

When I rolled my van years ago, I did get hit with some of the projectiles and I have to say it's a scary thing when you have a 13" tv hit your shoulder! I'm just glad the metal workbench stayed in the cargo area and didn't hit either of the boys, that thing was twisted beyond recognition when we pulled it out of the van later.

[Jeanum]

Yikes, skaterbabs, scary crash and scary projectiles. I'm very glad it wasn't worse. :eek:

Thanks for the show info., Ulrike. Time for me to talk my mom through setting her VCR to record it (wish me luck, lol) because I don't get that channel on my bare bones cable setup. Plan B is to see if the episode is available for download on iTunes or the like.

[Jewels]

When I rolled my van years ago, I did get hit with some of the projectiles and I have to say it's a scary thing when you have a 13" tv hit your shoulder! I'm just glad the metal workbench stayed in the cargo area and didn't hit either of the boys, that thing was twisted beyond recognition when we pulled it out of the van later.

:eek:

[mimieliza]

This is a good episode. After watching it, I am a little skeptical of people freaking out over CD cases, small toys and, of course, tissue boxes as projectiles.

[skaterbabscpst]

fortunately we weren't hurt, but it was a scary experience.

I like this rule of thumb: If you're comfortable throwing it at your child's head as hard as you can, then it's probably ok.

[tjham]

The one I would like to see them do is the ink pen. I remember hearing the old "ink pen through the eyeball" story, but never saw it officially.

[IsasMom]

Oh, that episode was a good one. It made me a little less paranoid about keeping the tissue box on the floor in the car (though I have to keep the bowling balls and axes in the trunk).

LOL but one day, walking through town I glanced into someone's parked car and did a double take... honest to goodness, they had an unsheathed machete in the back "shelf" of their car. :eek:

[Mama!]

Oh, that episode was a good one. It made me a little less paranoid about keeping the tissue box on the floor in the car (though I have to keep the bowling balls and axes in the trunk).

I just spit all over my keyboard LMAO

[Mama!]

LOL but one day, walking through town I glanced into someone's parked car and did a double take... honest to goodness, they had an unsheathed machete in the back "shelf" of their car. :eek:

can we say decapitation???:eek:

[skaterbabscpst]

my mil is bad about things like that, but I have finally convinced her to at least keep the chainsaw in the truck bed......I think.

[Mama!]

:eek:

[Melizerd]

I like this rule of thumb: If you're comfortable throwing it at your child's head as hard as you can, then it's probably ok.

DH and I use this method all the time. If he won't flinch when I through it at him it can stay in the passenger cabin. If he says "no don't throw that" I'm safe.

It's also a good way to work out aggression (LOL)

[babidius]

Question

So those of you with SUVs and strollers, how do you store them in your cars so they don't become a projectile?

Thanks!

[skaterbabscpst]

As low as possible behind the seats.

[babidius]

Behind the front seats or behind the back seats?

[skaterbabscpst]

I put the heavy things as close as I can to the 3rd row seats (behind them).
There are cargo barriers you can get, but I don't know much about them.

[UlrikeDG]

NAK, but check out this thread (http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=20356), babidius.

[JerseyGirl'sMama]

OMG, I am totally paranoid about loose objects in the car.

We have a cargo net in the back of our SUV. Everything (like the stroller, groceries, boxes, etc.) goes under the net. We do keep water bottles and a diaper bag in the cabin, which I don't think is totally safe,but, it is so darn inconvenient to have to go open the trunk to get things out of the diaper bag or if you want a sip of water :rolleyes:. And we let DD have a few soft toys in her seat.

Oh, and whenever I take someone shopping with me (like my Mom, or Sister) they just put stuff on top of the net. I don't say anything, but go back there and re-adjust everything myself. I wonder when they will get the point! :p

[Mama!]

I have a green bag of soft toys, books, etc. Those are the only allowed carseat toys.

I try to keep the van cleaned out, I try to do it once a week or so. I do allow drinks in my cupholder, and my purse in the floorboard of the front seat. The diaper bag is usually there or behind the drivers seat. I also have a green emergency bag in the van, with medical supplies in it. It's always within reach.

I keep strollers behind the 3rd row, in the hole.

[southpawboston]

NAK, but check out this thread (http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=20356), babidius.

what is NAK? i've only seen that acronym here.

[CPS_obsessed_EMT]

nursing at keyboard.

It means you are typing with one hand, or dealing with a squirmy toddler hanging off you.

You use it to excuse any typos or very short replies.

[Starlight]

Nursing At Keyboard.

[CPS_obsessed_EMT]

Oh yea, and I'm a total projectile nut. I can't tell you the strange looks people have given me when I put the diaper bag next to my daughter's seat and buckle that in as well :whistle:

[southpawboston]

what is NAK? i've only seen that acronym here.

nursing at keyboard.

It means you are typing with one hand, or dealing with a squirmy toddler hanging off you.

You use it to excuse any typos or very short replies.

well, from now on i'm going to start using it too. except it will mean "noshing at keyboard". :p

[Mama!]

well, from now on i'm going to start using it too. except it will mean "noshing at keyboard". :p

Are you a chronic nibbler at keyboard? :o

[JerseyGirl'sMama]

nursing at keyboard.

It means you are typing with one hand, or dealing with a squirmy toddler hanging off you.

You use it to excuse any typos or very short replies.

Sweet! I, too, am going to start using NAK. I ALWAYS type one-handed (DD is usually doing acrobatic nursing!!!) :ROTFLMAO::ROTFLMAO:

[Simplysomething]

SPB, you must not hang out on enough boards populated by mothers of small children.

I've seen the tissue box mythbusters before.

[southpawboston]

SPB, you must not hang out on enough boards populated by mothers of small children.


gee, ya think? ;) most people on the boards i frequent are more likely to have air tools in their garages instead of strollers.

[Starlight]

hey, I have air tools, hand tools, power tools, strollers, carseats, and a pool table in my garage.

:D

(I even have PINK tools, but they are relatively crappy compared to the others.)

[Wineaux]

nursing at keyboard.

It means you are typing with one hand, or dealing with a squirmy toddler hanging off you.

You use it to excuse any typos or very short replies.

Ah... That's like guys and internet pr0n.
:whistle:

[Melizerd]

Ah... That's like guys and internet pr0n.
:whistle:

:ROTFLMAO:

[Simplysomething]

hey, I have air tools, hand tools, power tools, strollers, carseats, and a pool table in my garage.

:D

(I even have PINK tools, but they are relatively crappy compared to the others.)

Yeah, you have to love that...apparently...we need PINK tools--that are ...prone to falling apart.

Bah.

[CPS_obsessed_EMT]

Ah... That's like guys and internet pr0n.
:whistle:

:eek:

I'm not sure I understand? :dizzy:

[UlrikeDG]

Alright, boys and girls. Let's stay a bit more on topic, please. This is a public forum.

[southpawboston]

to get this train back on track, i'll say that i pretty much subscribe to the "ouch" test for what constitutes a projectile. if it would hurt getting clocked in the head with an object that DW threw at me, it would probably be a projectile hazard in the car. that said, i am definitely guilty of having projectiles in the car. we try to keep them to a minimum, but there's usually a few offenders.

but i also don't subscribe to the whole idea of keeping things down on the floor or tucked away somewhere like behind the seat to make them less dangerous. i've been in crashes (but not in the last 17 years) and things go flying every which way. it's not just as simple as things moving in one direction. there is rarely a "perfect" crash in which the car hits an object in a perfectly straight trajectory. i've found things in my car after a crash for which i had *no clue* how they could have gotten there. like things from my door pockets that ended up on the back seat. and things that were on the back seat that ended up on the front floor. a cassette tape that had been sitting in my tape deck (not playing, but in the ejected state) ended up on the back seat. it was a multiple car crash and the car suffered blows from several directions.

i worry most about rollovers. in a rollover, heavy objects like strollers are going to go flying in every direction, no matter if they had been tucked behind the front seats.

[Melizerd]

a cassette tape that had been sitting in my tape deck (not playing, but in the ejected state) ended up on the back seat.

Must have been awhile ago since that one, since I don't even HAVE a tape deck in my car :whistle: (lol)

[Mama!]

The one major accident i have ever been in came just after I left the grocery store.

I had groceries in the backseat, in the back floorboard, and the trunk.

My huuuge bottle of bleach? It was sitting behind the drivers chair in the floorboard.

Wound up in the backwindshield, exploded.

TG dd was NOT with me.:eek:

[Judi]

Ok, I don't have cable. Someone pleeeease tell me what they found out about the kleenex box!!! I had an instructor that said she has seen it happen.

[mimieliza]

This is an old episode. They showed that there is no risk from a Kleenex box, handful of change, CD cases, among other things. There is risk from an ax, a bowling ball or a fire extinguisher. :)

Think of it this way - if I threw a Kleenex box as hard as I could at the back of your head, you would say ouch and probably yell at me, but you wouldn't be injured. :)

[Momto1bigkiddo]

They showed that there is no risk from a Kleenex box, handful of change, CD cases, among other things. There is risk from an ax, a bowling ball or a fire extinguisher.

Sheesh! An ax?? :eek: I wish I had seen the show.

What about the garage door opener kept in the sun-visor? That is certainly heavier than a cd case and a handful of change, but not as heavy as a bowling ball or fire extinguisher.

My husband went to high school with a guy who was killed by a toolbox in a crash (it came through the rear window in a pickup truck). :(

[southpawboston]

i doubt the garage door opener would become a projectile, because they are generally light and the clip that holds it to the visor is generally quite strong.

for a projectile, you need two general criteria to be met: 1) significant weight, and 2) inadequate anchoring. it's easy to achieve adequate anchoring when the item being secured has little weight. that's why i have no issues with RF mirrors becoming projectiles.

[wendytthomas]

that's why i have no issues with RF mirrors becoming projectiles.

Except the ones now with battery packs that sing and dance for the kid. *sigh*

Force = speed x mass, for a very simplified equation. So if something has no mass, or very little mass, then it doesn't matter its speed. A gnat doing 60 mph would barely cause you to jump. An ax doing 15 would be scary indeed.

Wendy

[crunchierthanthou]

i doubt the garage door opener would become a projectile, because they are generally light and the clip that holds it to the visor is generally quite strong.



Mine falls off when I lower the visor- pretty sure it would be a projectile, albeit a 1.5 oz projectile. I'm not too worried.

[Jeanum]

Must have been awhile ago since that one, since I don't even HAVE a tape deck in my car :whistle: (lol)

LOL. It might not have been that old of a car. My '05 Sienna has a tape deck and CD player. ;) I confess the tape deck is rarely used other than for an adapter for the iPod. :)

In one of DH's crashes while driving a rental car, a cassette tape flew out of the tape deck. DH is pretty sure it just landed on the back seat without striking him, and the cassette's housing was cracked/mangled. The cassette was a loss, but not a big deal compared to DH's collarbone fracture from the impact on the driver's side. :(

[southpawboston]

In one of DH's crashes while driving a rental car, a cassette tape flew out of the tape deck. DH is pretty sure it just landed on the back seat without striking him, and the cassette's housing was cracked/mangled. The cassette was a loss, but not a big deal compared to DH's collarbone fracture from the impact on the driver's side. :(

jeanum, thank you for illustrating my point about projectiles not necessarily following the general direction of the impact. your DH was struck in a side impact and yet the cassette went from the tape deck to the back seat. there are usually multiple directional components to every crash.

oh, and FTR, my crash happened in 1990, and the car was a 1984 VW GTI. it came only with an AM/FM radio standard. the tape deck, i installed :).

[crunchierthanthou]

In one of DH's crashes while driving a rental car, a cassette tape flew out of the tape deck. DH is pretty sure it just landed on the back seat without striking him, and the cassette's housing was cracked/mangled. The cassette was a loss, but not a big deal compared to DH's collarbone fracture from the impact on the driver's side. :(

jeanum, thank you for illustrating my point about projectiles not necessarily following the general direction of the impact. your DH was struck in a side impact and yet the cassette went from the tape deck to the back seat. there are usually multiple directional components to every crash.


maybe a ricochet off the passenger side window or frame, given the cracked housing?

[Jeanum]

DH said it's possible the cassette bounced off something like the plasticky center console, but it's hard to be certain because it all happened in a flash. :shrug-shoulders: He also found his eyeglasses had landed near his feet in the driver's foot well.

[southpawboston]

DH said it's possible the cassette bounced off something like the plasticky center console, but it's hard to be certain because it all happened in a flash. :shrug-shoulders: He also found his eyeglasses had landed near his feet in the driver's foot well.

bouncing and ricocheting is definitely something that can happen. your car becomes one big squash court.