Pix of kids in my new van......

emandbri · Apr 10, 2007

here is Elizabeth, she is 9 months old.

here is Benjamin you can see the infant seat in the "front and center" spot

I haven't decided yet if I like the seats like that or with the 3 year old in the middle. This is a little easier since the 3 year old can climb in by himself.

here are the older two in the back

emandbri · Apr 10, 2007

hee hee someone on another board told me that a car seat tech told her the baby should be in the middle. I find it amusing when poeple give me car seat advice (I've been obsessed with car seats for 8 years! lol)

southpawboston · Apr 10, 2007

what kind of van did you get?

emandbri · Apr 10, 2007

sorry I thought I posted it. It is a 2004 sienna, aspen green, 8 seater, that has side curtain airbags. I was set on all of that and it was really hard to find so I ended up having it shipped in with carmax and they were GREAT!

TXDani · Apr 10, 2007

Nothing better than a van full of kids! And yours are all so cute...makes it even better!

scatterbunny · Apr 10, 2007

Great pics!

Dawn · Apr 10, 2007

I have an 04 Sienna and love it! I have found that if I remove the headrest behind the Marathon I get an even tighter install. Super easy either way.

Patriot201 · Apr 10, 2007

Great pictures!!

Cute kids!!

broken4u05 · Apr 10, 2007

I love that van. I cant wait till i have kids so i can get it. They look good

emandbri · Apr 10, 2007

Dawn said:
I have an 04 Sienna and love it! I have found that if I remove the headrest behind the Marathon I get an even tighter install. Super easy either way.

Thanks! I'll try that. Okay I'm going to say this now I'm putting the headrest on the shelf that hangs down in my garage by the paint rollers, now when I can't find this headrest I can search for this post!

Dawn · Apr 14, 2007

emandbri said:
Thanks! I'll try that. Okay I'm going to say this now I'm putting the headrest on the shelf that hangs down in my garage by the paint rollers, now when I can't find this headrest I can search for this post!

LOL! I totally understand that. I made dh put the headrest in the van last week so I can find it for a moms night away next week when I am driving,lol.

jen_nah · Apr 14, 2007

They look great & are adorable

Can you flip the headrest around backwards? This is what we do for parents so it doesn't get lost or damaged stored somewhere else.

I was able to do that in the 3rd row of a Sienna (or was it an Ody

oh heck they both look alike on the inside) a few weeks ago.

southpawboston · Apr 14, 2007

jen_nah said:
They look great & are adorable

Can you flip the headrest around backwards? This is what we do for parents so it doesn't get lost or damaged stored somewhere else.

I was able to do that in the 3rd row of a Sienna (or was it an Ody oh heck they both look alike on the inside) a few weeks ago.

umm... doesn't that make the headrest a potential projectile??!!

all removable headrests have a locking mechanism which keeps them from sliding up and out of the seat (per DOT regulations, in fact)... that mechanism operates on only on one shaft of the headrest (the one with the notches in it). if you flip it around, the shaft with the notches is no longer controlled by the locking mechanism and the headrest is free to slide up and out. in a crash that headrest can become a projectile! and it doesn't matter that it has to slide "up".... it is STILL a potential projectile. (if you believe that a real life crash involves a force in only one direction, that's a real misconception). i've been in a real live crash and things had moved in *every* direction and ended up in unbelievable places.

imagine a headrest with those spear-like shafts becoming a projectile. better to just remove it and store it safely.

food for thought.

Simplysomething · Apr 14, 2007

emandbri said:
Thanks! I'll try that. Okay I'm going to say this now I'm putting the headrest on the shelf that hangs down in my garage by the paint rollers, now when I can't find this headrest I can search for this post!

I love that. lol
Or, send your self a PM and never delete it. lol

jen_nah · Apr 14, 2007

southpawboston said:
umm... doesn't that make the headrest a potential projectile??!!

all removable headrests have a locking mechanism which keeps them from sliding up and out of the seat (per DOT regulations, in fact)... that mechanism operates on only on one shaft of the headrest (the one with the notches in it). if you flip it around, the shaft with the notches is no longer controlled by the locking mechanism and the headrest is free to slide up and out. in a crash that headrest can become a projectile! and it doesn't matter that it has to slide "up".... it is STILL a potential projectile. (if you believe that a real life crash involves a force in only one direction, that's a real misconception). i've been in a real live crash and things had moved in *every* direction and ended up in unbelievable places.

imagine a headrest with those spear-like shafts becoming a projectile. better to just remove it and store it safely.

food for thought.

The suggestion I have the PP was not anything that hasn't been recommended on here by many seasoned techs/instructors like myself. If this was the case it wouldn't be suggested in the CPS classes & have been discussed at past conferences by the auto industry.

So, I feel very confident in recommending it to parents when the need a raises.

southpawboston · Apr 14, 2007

jen_nah said:
The suggestion I have the PP was not anything that hasn't been recommended on here by many seasoned techs/instructors like myself. If this was the case it wouldn't be suggested in the CPS classes & have been discussed at past conferences by the auto industry.

So, I feel very confident in recommending it to parents when the need a raises.

just because it was taught in a course doesn't mean it makes best practice sense. as new dangers are discovered, curricula do change. do you in fact disagree with the logic of the requirement that head restraints lock into place? thousands of doctors also give advice that is known to be based on old data that is no longer considered best practice. but because they are doctors, are we not to question it? i'm merely pointing out an inconsistency between CPS practice and FMV standard noncompliance. putting the headrest in a non-original (and non-locking) position puts the vehicle out of FMV standards compliance.

jen_nah · Apr 14, 2007

southpawboston said:
just because it was taught in a course doesn't mean it makes best practice sense. as new dangers are discovered, curricula do change. do you in fact disagree with the logic of the requirement that head restraints lock into place? thousands of doctors also give advice that is known to be based on old data that is no longer considered best practice. but because they are doctors, are we not to question it? i'm merely pointing out an inconsistency between CPS practice and FMV standard noncompliance. putting the headrest in a non-original (and non-locking) position puts the vehicle out of FMV standards compliance.

While I agree that we change things all the time in the CPS curriculam as we are doing right now. This has been done for years and was just discussed at this year conference and the auto makers didn't discourage it and one actually recommended it too.

So, Yet again I am not over stepping my boundaries by any means by suggesting it.

If you want to keep debating me then we can move this to PM. Thanks and have a nice day.

emandbri · Apr 14, 2007

I personally think it would take a lot of force for a crash to remove a backwards headrest, still I'd rather just take it off. It isn't that big of a deal I was just freaking out when I couldn't find the one I took off in my last van when we were ready to trade it in.

I didn't get around to taking the headrest off until today and switched him to the decathlon and with the headrest off it is SOOOOSO tight! I thought it was tight before! lol I used the LATCH because I don't like the lock off on the decathlon and was very impressed with it. I wanted to switch him to the decathlon because then I won't have to dig for the buckle and it will be easier to buckle him in from the driver's seat.

southpawboston · Apr 14, 2007

emandbri said:
I personally think it would take a lot of force for a crash to remove a backwards headrest, still I'd rather just take it off. It isn't that big of a deal I was just freaking out when I couldn't find the one I took off in my last van when we were ready to trade it in.

but that is pure speculation... crash forces rarely work in just one dimension. unless you've been in a severe crash (i have), it's hard to understand how things can move around in a car (as i said before, i had things in the car that wound up in places afer the crash that i could never have imagined they'd end up). and what about a rollover situation? the headrest is basically just sitting in there, free to slide out, then bounce around the cabin like a ping pong ball. the padded part of the headrest wouldn't be so much of a problem, it's more those shafts that are the real concern. it would be literally like having two spikes in your car.

anyway, glad to hear you're just removing them rather than insert them backwards. then it is not an issue. i just wish more techs would allow common sense to prevail over getting the "green light" to do something. i mean, if you think about it, it really just makes sense.

scatterbunny · Apr 14, 2007

southpawboston said:
i just wish more techs would allow common sense to prevail over getting the "green light" to do something. i mean, if you think about it, it really just makes sense.

In the defense of techs, it is drilled into our heads in class that we should always follow vehicle and carseat manufacturer rules, and we should never educate parents based on only our own opinions.

If vehicle manufacturers and the CPS community as a whole are endorsing the practice of turning headrests backwards, then techs will teach that practice.

I agree that it seems potentially dangerous, and I don't think it's something I will do anymore (I have done it in the past based on the recommendation of a tech), but it's unfair to come down on techs for advocating a practice that is approved of by vehicle manufacturers (at least some) and the CPS community.

Does it make it right and safe simply because some auto makers and the CPS community thinks it's safe? Not necessarily--but it's the school of thought right now, and a tech's job is to offer up the best practice guidelines that we have available to us at this moment in time, and to educate parents on the carseat and vehicle rules that must always be followed. A tech's job is not to speculate on what might happen and offer opinions with no fact-based evidence to back it up. This is all my opinion, of course.

I just don't think it's fair to basically bash a tech for recommending this practice, when it's widely recognized and approved of.

Pix of kids in my new van......

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