Question Crash test info/video with seats installed side by side?

[TXmom2]

So I've been wondering about this.

Is there crash test data or video on how CSR do when installed side by side or in a 3 across scenario? From watching crash test videos, the seats move quite a bit and one would think that the results might be different if they could not move as shown. So..... anything?

 

[Nimommyof2]

I know transport canada has a number of them they have quite a few videos from a number of years ago when they did a bunch of testing. They don't list it as any type of concern and I know I watched a couple and don't remember noticing anything.

 

[joolsplus3]

Just because seats DO move, doesn't mean they HAVE to move. In fact, there's an old study that found that children seated next to adults were substantially safer in side impacts, because they moved so much less than they otherwise would have. (this isn't the one I was thinking of, but it has more studies together to say the same thing)

" In general, children who shared the rear row with other occupants were found to be 58% less likely to sustain serious injury during a side impact compared to children who sat alone in the rear seat."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3217517/

 

[bnsnyde]

I was thinking about that yesterday. I was in the 3rd row of the Odyssey, outboard driver side, wedged between the window area and my son's RF Radian (gymnastics just to get in, for me). I could not move. I hope that's a good thing in a crash?

 

[LISmama810]

That study includes data that is SO old, though, it's hard to say how it pertains now. One study within it looked at kids 4-15 in adult seatbelts only. I imagine that having seats vs just people affects things somehow, though I don't know if it makes things better or worse (or if it depends).

If you have three seats packed tightly across, the seats won't move as much as a single one would, but the energy is still there, so what happens to it? Do the seats break instead of move? Does the force transfer to the children? Or is the force absorbed by the seats, and helps protect the kids more? I'd love to know the answers.

 

[Jenny487]

If you have three seats packed tightly across, the seats won't move as much as a single one would, but the energy is still there, so what happens to it? Do the seats break instead of move? Does the force transfer to the children? Or is the force absorbed by the seats, and helps protect the kids more? I'd love to know the answers.

:yeahthatlove: My kids are 3 across in our 2008 Yukon XL or 04 Sierra Crew Cab. Does anyone have info on this?

 

[TXmom2]

That study includes data that is SO old, though, it's hard to say how it pertains now. One study within it looked at kids 4-15 in adult seatbelts only. I imagine that having seats vs just people affects things somehow, though I don't know if it makes things better or worse (or if it depends).

If you have three seats packed tightly across, the seats won't move as much as a single one would, but the energy is still there, so what happens to it? Do the seats break instead of move? Does the force transfer to the children? Or is the force absorbed by the seats, and helps protect the kids more? I'd love to know the answers.

Yes! That's what I mean. Are there studies on this?

 

[LISmama810]

Not that I know of, other than the one posted above, which included some other studies. But those studies were from 1989-2004ish, with data likely collected much earlier than that.

 

[joolsplus3]

I didn't read, did those studies mention seatbelt usage? Thinking adding people next to you when you are unbelted is maybe what added to safety, really might matter a lot less if everyone's belted. IE, still safe to be next to someone else, unless there's head injury data for hitting the seat next to you. Probably coming in the next round of studies, which will have more belting and more curtain airbags, but I'm really not worried about putting three across (uh, because very, very few of us can actually *afford* to be worried about it...restrain your kids safely in the car you have, and take a deep breath and drive (without drinking, and put down the phone), there are some things you can control, and some things you can't, and that's life)

 

[TXmom2]

So no one has seen a video or test with two carseats side by side?

 

[bnsnyde]

Wouldn't it be easy for a testing company to strap 3 across with dummies and report the outcome? In theory?

This would be good information to have, but if it comes out that it's not super great, you still have to balance it with other info. I have 3 across to make use of the safety of the middle seat. So if it was determined 3 across wasn't ideal, and I moved a child to the back row outboard...that's certainly not ideal. So, complicated.

 

[LISmama810]

Wouldn't it be easy for a testing company to strap 3 across with dummies and report the outcome? In theory?

Well...no, it wouldn't be easy. You couldn't use the standard bench. You'd need to use an actual car ($$$$$$$$) or at least a simulated car with a shell that can deform (also $$$). Then you'd need to conduct the test (more $$$$), and testing companies have no vested interest in spending their own money. So it would need to be commissioned by someone with enough money to pay for all that.

I suppose NHTSA could throw three car seats and dummies into a car when they mess around with their tests, but even when they do that, they're not really measuring performance of the seats and injury criteria.

Honestly, I'm not sure that knowing the answer would do much good as most people with 3-across situations don't have any choice.

 

[Nimommyof2]

So no one has seen a video or test with two carseats side by side?

I did on the transport Canada site I'll go see if I can find out how to link it. In the info it says they did a number of three across as well, and maybe it was just booster seats not carseats sorry

 

[TXmom2]

Well I'm curious because I currently have 2 seats side by side in the 2nd row of my Pilot, with the outboard passenger side seat open for the oldest child (seatbelt only). I *could* change the setup to have the carseats both outboard OR utilize the smaller (again passenger-outboard) seat in the 3rd row, IF any data said it was safer NOT to have two children in carseats side by side.

It just seems logical, to me at least, that the seats touching or being so close to one another would have some inpact on how they function in a crash. hmm.....

 

[LISmama810]

Again, I have nothing to back this up, but I would think that IF there were a safety issue, it would be with three-across, not two next to each other. With a seat empty, there's still room for the seats to move relatively freely. It's in a tight three-across that you might have issues like energy transference and whatnot. (You'd get that to a lesser extent with two.)

Again, I have no idea if that energy transfer would be a bad thing. It might even be good depending on how it happens.

It's definitely not something I'm going to lose sleep over.