Hypothetical question on who goes where.

[thepeach80]

O.K. I've had a small disagreement w/ my CPST instructor this week. lol Here's the scenario. You have the diver w/ airbag and l/s belt, and that's the only person you can't move. There's the passenger front w/ l/s belt and airbag, the back 2 outboards w/ l/s belts, and lap only in the middle. You have a 2mos old in infant seat, 3yo ffing, and 7yo in a booster. Where would you put them? ;)

[Jeanum]

Assuming the seats fit 3 across in the back seat: the infant seat outboard, 7 year old in booster outboard, and the 3 year old FF in the middle. Not sure who to put up in the front passenger seat if necessary, but definitely not the RFing infant. :)

[Tara]

Yeah, what she said. And hoping the 7yo booster has good side impact protection :)

[Dreaming_of_Speed]

I'd put the RFing infant behind the passenger, the FFing child in the center, and the boostered child behind the driver, so that the driver's seat isnt pushed too close to the airbag.

What did your instructor say?

[papooses]

& the FF'er & RF'er would each be outboard ... depending on where the middle shoulder belt buckles ... I like to be able to reach the infant for soothing, but if it's easier to buckle the booster next to the FF'ing seat then that's a factor as to where the infant/preschooler go.

Now, if the middle is lap-only then the FF'er would go there, boostered kid behind front passenger so I can keep my eye on whether s/he sits still!

[DaniCPST]

Yep I agree with all the ladies above. Infant outboard, booster outboard, and ff carseat in the middle. I am anxious to hear what your instructor said.

[rachel3612]

I will be the odd one out. I would put the infant in the middle and the others outboard. depending on which side the middle seat belt buckled I would make sure the booster kid is not next to that.

It would be much easier for the kid to buckle next to an infant seat base. It would make getting the kids in and out easier.

I always had my infant in the middle, easier for an adult to sit next to them, I had to do it often with my ds, in case his heart monitor started going off. LOL

I know all about putting the least protected in the most protected spot but since its not possible with the booster, then if your going to sacrafice that kid, why not the other. Ok just kidding but really there is not that much difference in a side impact crash for an infant than a toddler, rf is safe for a front collision but then it wouldn't matter who was on the side.

So what did the instructor say.

Rachel

[papooses]

Maybe it depends on the configuration ... I mean, our Parkway buckles in easier next to the FF BLVD than it does the SafeSeat1 (without carrier put in the base yet) -- although it might only be easier for ME that way, I do think it was more difficult for SD to buckle next to the BLVD than the SS1 :rolleyes:

[jen_nah]

I would put the ff'ing child in the middle and the booster & rf'ing outboards. Most likely the booster behind the driver to give the driver more leg room and the infant passenger outboard.

[thepeach80]

See, that's what I said, least protected child in the most protected spot. That's exactly where I put the 3yo, in the middle. The instructor (and I have GREAT instructors, truly amazing really, not much knowledge on all Britax things, but that's o.k., lol) said he put the baby in the middle b/c the baby was the most fragile and the older child could stand the impact better. I tried to argue, but he gave up on me (he knows I know a lot more than most of my class ;) ). During our hands on installation test, he checked my first seat (a Britax Wizard) for a total of maybe 3 secs b/c he knew mine was in right; that's what he told one of the other instructors anyways. It's been a great class, I've loved it and can't wait to get out there. We test this morning and we have a 4+ hour even at BRU this afternoon.

[Jeanum]

Until I heard of the "least protected child in the most protected spot," I would have agreed with the instructor but not anymore. Good luck with your test, I bet you will ace it. :)

[Unregistered]

Could someone explain please? I would have thought that since the baby would be most fragile, it would go in the back seat, but the least protected in the safest seat does make sense.
Now, why would the 3-year-old be the least protected? It's in a carseat, right? Why wouldn't the 7yo be least protected because he wouldn't have the shell? I'm confused.
Thanks for any insight. :)

-Shannon

[Jeanum]

Each step in the progression of carseats from rear facing to forward facing to a belt positioning booster is a step down in overall safety even assuming all seats are used and installed properly. Also, younger children have a higher proportion of their overall weight in their disproportionately larger heads. A rear facing infant seat or convertible carseat offers the greatest degree of protection for the neck and spine in most crash situations due to laws of physics and crash dynamics. A tech could probably explain these details better than me. The rear facing seat itself is able to absorb crash forces with less of those forces affecting the child. A forward facing harnessed seat with a 5-point harness offers less protection than a rear facing seat, especially in frontal or side impact crashes which constitute the majority of crashes. A belt positioning booster offers even less protection than a FF 5-point harnessed carseat. So an infant or toddler in a rear facing seat would be the most protected in the above scenario, and a child in a booster would be the least protected and best candidate to sit in the middle.

[joolsplus3]

Right, but with a lapbelt in the center, the boostered 7 yo can't be there, so the 3 yo has to be in the center using the lapbelt to install a harnessed seat (did you say that? I'm sure you must have...).

Rearfacing is SO much safer than forward facing, even harnessed, that even if the baby is more 'fragile', it is counteracted by being protected best in the rearfacing seat (the seat shell rotates toward the point of impact and will stay between the baby and the car door, somewhat, while a 3 yo's head will fly forward and out of the confines of the shell and be more likely to strike the interior of the car or the oncoming car's bumper...but is still more protected than the 7 yo in a booster...but there's no choice of truly optimal protection if there's only a lapbelt for the 7 yo, unless the parent uses a harness system like the ridesafer travel vest or ez-on vest).

It's kind of a judgement call, and frankly sometimes we can't always do the optimal scenerio (for instance, i can only fit my infant in between my older boostered kids, for family sanity reasons, lol)...but 'most protected child in the least protective spot' is "best practice" that is slow to catch on among even instructors.

:)

[Unregistered]

Wow, how confusing!

You've done a good job clearing that up for me, thank you so much!

-Shannon

[Kellyr2]

See, I had this same discussion with a tech friend of mine who would also say the infant goes in the middle. According to her, until SK officially changes it, that should be what is recommended.
So why is it still in the SK information that the younger child goes in the middle, if all of these other techs are convinced that the least protected in this case, is the FF toddler?