Side Curtain Airbag Question

[noteasy]

I was reading that people buy one car seat over another sometimes because their car have or doesn't have side curtain air bag. (Especially the Britax Marathon vs the Boulevard)

1) Is this because some car seats cannot be installed next to a door with side curtain airbags OR because some car seats offer less side impact protection?

Thanks!

[BW1426]

I think the most cited is that people purchase HBB over backless boosters because of the added SIP. Some people feel similarly regarding convertible seats. All convertible seats offer SIP, but some of the Britax seats are labeled as having "True Side Impact Protection" though there isn't a standard that shows us if these are substantially safer and if so, how much safer they are.

For a boostered child I would be very inclined to use a hbb over a lbb if there aren't side curtain airbags in a vehicle, but I don't feel strongly about TSIP. A properly installed 5 point harness is very safe and offers SIP regardless of whether or not it offers head wings.

Additionally, I think it makes a difference based on who deep the sides of the seat are to begin with. So, for example, the headwings on the Radian XT may provide a greater step up in safety from the standard radian than from the Marathon to the Boulevard due to how shallow the sides of the radian are. But, the truth is we don't have hard numbers to tell us the truth of this situation.

[Mom to a few]

I agree with Brie.

Yes--They make those recommendations because some car seats seem to offer less side impact protection. However...there is no standardized car seat testing for side impacts, so it's difficult to say for sure that one car seat would offer more protection than another.

Another thing to consider is that side curtain airbags basically just cover the windows (and sometimes the pillar between the windows), so curtain airbags are unlikely to provide a substantial amount of protection to a child who is properly restained in a 5-pt harness (with or without "wings" on the car seat). Personally, when I had the choice a few years ago, I chose the Boulevard (even though I have side curtain airbags) because I wanted the "wings" next to my child's head (But remember that we don't know exactly how much that really helps in a crash). Any 5-pt harness that is properly installed and used is going to decrease the risk of injury to the child.

So for a passenger in a seatbelt only, or booster, I think side curtain airbags are excellent. For a child is a harnessed seat, it probably won't make much of a difference.

[joolsplus3]

Answer lies behind door number two: Because a car without airbags offers less protection, I want the seat to be more of a buffer to offer more protection. Though it's true, ANY harnessed seat used properly is going to be very safe in a side crash, airbags or not.
Not sure if you know the abbreviations the PP used about boosters, but it's true, once you lose the protection of the five point harness, you want to use a high back booster with good side wings, particularly in a car without airbags, to provide substantially greater head protection than a backless booster.

[noteasy]

Thank you -this is very usefull.