Jonah Baby
New member
I have two aunts in the family with children.
One aunt is disgustingly unsafe with her children in the car, a matter for another time.
My other aunt has always been pretty good with carsat usage. I have never seen her seats installed improperly (except her first carseat with the first child was tethered RFing...) or even slightly loose. The harness is always properly snugged to the child at the correct height level. Her oldest two remain in highback boosters, the younger ones in harnesses. One child didn't reach 20 pounds until she was 18 months old and my aunt kept her RFing until then. She uses top tethers and does not buy the least inexpensive seat available, never using recalled/expired/hand-me-downs. She never allows coats to be under the harness.
I have left well-enough alone and not said anything about ERF.
Today I ran into her in my grandmother's driveway. She had just finished buckling her littlest one into her seat (only kiddo she had with her on this occasion.) I peeked into the window to throw a grin at LO (and to secretly take note of what seats she had at the moment as they often get handed down to me...)
LO, who just turned 2 is riding in an Evenflo Generations. I believe it is a 65# as it looks brand new and has that pretty blue/black cover, replacing her 40# that I think is just about expired. Older sister has a matching seat.
So, LO has a belly clip.
In my surprise, I state "You got a belly clip!" before I could stop myself. Aunt heard but did not fix the clip.
I know that the Evenflo Generations was not crash tested without the use of a chest clip in proper position. I would not personally go against manufacturer on this matter, but I have to wonder...
European seats do not even HAVE chest clips...
Theoretically, if a harness was tightened to child properly, would the seat (US seat) still do its job of protecting a child in the car without the use of a clip? Could a clip, on a properly tightened harness, down on belly-tissue cause damage during a crash?
One aunt is disgustingly unsafe with her children in the car, a matter for another time.
My other aunt has always been pretty good with carsat usage. I have never seen her seats installed improperly (except her first carseat with the first child was tethered RFing...) or even slightly loose. The harness is always properly snugged to the child at the correct height level. Her oldest two remain in highback boosters, the younger ones in harnesses. One child didn't reach 20 pounds until she was 18 months old and my aunt kept her RFing until then. She uses top tethers and does not buy the least inexpensive seat available, never using recalled/expired/hand-me-downs. She never allows coats to be under the harness.
I have left well-enough alone and not said anything about ERF.
Today I ran into her in my grandmother's driveway. She had just finished buckling her littlest one into her seat (only kiddo she had with her on this occasion.) I peeked into the window to throw a grin at LO (and to secretly take note of what seats she had at the moment as they often get handed down to me...)
LO, who just turned 2 is riding in an Evenflo Generations. I believe it is a 65# as it looks brand new and has that pretty blue/black cover, replacing her 40# that I think is just about expired. Older sister has a matching seat.
So, LO has a belly clip.
In my surprise, I state "You got a belly clip!" before I could stop myself. Aunt heard but did not fix the clip.
I know that the Evenflo Generations was not crash tested without the use of a chest clip in proper position. I would not personally go against manufacturer on this matter, but I have to wonder...
European seats do not even HAVE chest clips...
Theoretically, if a harness was tightened to child properly, would the seat (US seat) still do its job of protecting a child in the car without the use of a clip? Could a clip, on a properly tightened harness, down on belly-tissue cause damage during a crash?