Little Seats

[sixmaybemore]

This topic comes up on my big family list. It hasn't lately, but we're about due, it's been a couple years since it's come up. The company that makes these seats http://www.littleseats.com/ says that the seats are safe. This page has a lot of information, but still doesn't answer the two questions below http://www.littleseats.com/safety.htm
Their testimonials include two collisions.


1) Has any manufacturer actually said it's OKAY to use these?
2) What about insurance?

[TXAggieTech]

That I know of manufacturers have not said it is okay to use these. It was my understanding that you would be putting your child too close to the point of impact by having them in the cargo area.

I'm not sure about insurance, what do you mean?

When we were first fostering I was a tad crazy thinking I wanted to save the world and take in a ton of kids I looked at these. I was told no way by my instructor.

[sixmaybemore]

That I know of manufacturers have not said it is okay to use these. It was my understanding that you would be putting your child too close to the point of impact by having them in the cargo area.

I'm not sure about insurance, what do you mean?

When we were first fostering I was a tad crazy thinking I wanted to save the world and take in a ton of kids I looked at these. I was told no way by my instructor.

What a loophole - I guess it's the same as aftermarket products for car seats. They can quote and cite all kinds of safety this and that, but it's not ever been tested for use in that vehicle, or approved by the manufacturer of the vehicle.

With the insurance I meant that it may exceed the coverage on the vehicle due to the extra passengers.

There's really such crappy choices for us bigger families. We fit into a Suburban right now, but with no room. We fit into an Astro van, but it's a squeeze. 15 passenger vans I don't know if I can stomach. I can see why people would be tempted to add a row with one of these little seats.

[joolsplus3]

Try a search, we just had a good discussion on this a few weeks ago. But the short answer was 'no', as we also found from CPSPList...one of the interesting arguments, to me, was the added weight making an already top heavy vehicle even more unsteady. If a parent were absolutely going to buy one? I'd insist on the rearfacing one with headrests and three point belts, though (most bad crashes are frontal, at least kids would have neck and head protection from being RF, and less risk of crushing their legs and banging their heads into the real second row seatbacks, you know?)

:)

[sixmaybemore]

I did do a search for the little seats on this forum. I went through pages and found nothing, although goodness knows I could have used the wrong string search. I'll double check the CPS list, too.

[papooses]

Here (http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?p=48395#poststop)'s a previous thread about this & another (http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=42157&highlight=Little+Passenger+Seats) recent one :)

[sixmaybemore]

Thank you for the links! That was a big help. And yes, it was my string search. Those didn't come up because I used a different term.

[sixmaybemore]

Well, speak of the devil..... This has indeed come up.

Are there any actual articles out there on this topic?

Off to search the CPST archives.