Concerned with vehicle seats collapsing backwards in crash.

[Momto1bigkiddo]

Does anyone have anymore information on this?

I had a thread a while back where the topic came up and it was discussed a little bit, but I found this video and now I am concerned even more.. What is anyone to do? Never let anyone ride behind you!?? :mad: How often does this happen to "average-size" people?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCJ90_Feo_I
Click the link.


ETA: found this one too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXzfGgMe9Ec

[Jeanum]

I've heard of this happening and it actually did happen to DH's brother when he was rear ended in his '98 Saturn SL a few years ago. Fortunately, he wasn't severely injured, although he was out cold and woke up in the hospital with no memory of the crash and a bad concussion. :( Luckily he didn't have anyone riding in the back seat at the time. I did a quick google search using the terms "vehicle seatback collapse" and found a bunch of sites that appear to be run by personal injury lawyers, not necessarily the most reliable, unbiased sources of information. :( Maybe someone else knows of a more authoritative link or can sift through NHTSA's site?

[Momto3Divaz]

:eek: OHHHH no!!! Im surprised and shocked I have not heard more about this!

[An Aurora]

:eek: OHHHH no!!! Im surprised and shocked I have not heard more about this!

Ditto that! :eek:

[CRS]

wow makes me even more glad my boys are still rear-facing! we have a tiny car

[jdchic3]

That just makes me sick. I know you all say that sometimes, but I've never felt that way until now. Where's the vomiting 'smiley' when you need it?

[lovemytwosweeties]

Yikes ... I've never heard of that before.

[southpawboston]

this is the essence of the new NHTSA "rear end collision" tests. they test the front seat on a sled with a dummy in it to see how well it protects the front seat occupant in the event of a rear end collision. it is normal for *all* front seats to bend backward a few inches in a rear end collision, and some end up collapsing entirely. vehicle seats are extremely bendable.

[jmm3]

I've thought about that issue before too.

Here are some articles I found about the accident the second video referenced.
http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?did=1138&scid=41
http://tennessean.com/local/archives/04/11/60897150.shtml?Element_ID=60897150
They mention that the baby killed was 8 months old and was hit in the head by the head of the passenger of the collapsing seat. It sounds like he was probably FF if he was struck in the head.

Although, I wonder if an RF seat that is braced against the front seat might be pushed downward (like over-rotation) by a collapsing seat, exposing the child's head. An unbraced RF seat would probably just be cocooned into the vehicle seat it's installed on.

[Mama!]

This happened to a friend of mine 14 ish yrs ago. He was in a toyota corolla or camry and went off the road (which was elevated over a huge valley below) , hit a power pole, and then crashed into the ground below with live electric lines all over the car.

His driver's seat broke off backwards and he flew into the backseat and severed his spinal column. He was paralyzed from the chest down until he died a few yrs ago :(

He won some sort of settlement from Toyota. I'm not sure on the details.

[Momto1bigkiddo]

:( I just hate to think about it. I am outraged that there is not more information and statistics on this.

I am excited for the new NHTSA testing, I didn't know they were doing this Southpaw. It's about time. Hopefully results will eventually be released on how the seats held up.

[cmommyof2]

wow makes me even more glad my boys are still rear-facing! we have a tiny car

that's what i was thinking about my smallest dd even though she is in the middle but my oldest dd is behind me FF:eek:

[Heather and Alex]

wow that is really scary!