Securing more than car seats...

I am not sure if this is in the right place so please move it if it isn't.

I have heard a few places now that you should secure your stroller in your trunk (if you have a van, explorer etc...) as well as your groceries, diaper bag, etc... because they can become projectiles.

I was wondering if anyone had heard of this and whether it is something I should be doing and how to do it?

Thanks
 
ADS

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
However you can. Anything not bolted down in a collision will become a projectile. If you would throw it at a child's head it's safe to have loose, but otherwise it's weight times speed equals force. So a 12 ounce jar of soup in a 30mph collision weighs 22.5 pounds. A bag of six of them is 135 pounds. That's just one bag of groceries.

Here in Seattle the big one I see is dogs. People just have the dog in the back next to their baby. A 60 pound dog in a 30 mph collision is 1800 pounds of force. That will hurt the baby, hurt the dog, hurt the driver, and the windshield won't stop the dog on the way out of the car.

The trunk is safe, if you can tie things down or push them against the backseat (I'd put the stroller in first, against the backseat, then go lighter as you get to the back hatch). After that you can use the footwells on the passenger side and then the backseat. That compartmentalizes objects. I don't recommend using the driver's side footwell, though I found myself accidentally using it the other day. ;-) Luckily only for a pair of Laine's pants.

The biggest problem with an open trunk is rollovers. You can secure things so they won't hurt passengers, normally, but in a rollover you're in trouble. Same thing with whatever is in the footwells in the passenger cabin. Luckily rollovers are rare, but they're bad when they happen, and this is partly why.

Wendy
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
I've always wondered about that as well...though I normaly do tie my stroller down. The back of my pilot has lots of tie down hooks and my dad gave me a nice webbed strap thing that you don't even have to tie, you just thread it through an adjuster (kind of looks like a mini version of a harness and harness adjuster, like on a car seat) sure would love to get some more of those straps. In a severe crash will tied down items stay restrained? Or is all my effort for not?
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Generally, yes. That's exactly what the cargo hooks and cargo nets are for. They are specifically designed to hold things down in a crash so they're not projectiles.

Wendy
 

NannyMom

Well-known member
I'm guilty of projectiles. I do keep the umbrella stoller in the trunk...can I use bungee cords with the tie downs?
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Yes. I think they're designed for things like bungee cords, cargo nets, and those crank things that the mighty tite wants to be.

Wendy
 

jadefaerie

New member
I was just looking at all the random nonsense in our car (toys, rocks the kids picked up, umbrellas... my cell phone... the GPS just sitting on the dash not secured) and wondering if it was all unsafe. Most of it ends up on the floor, but sometimes it's on the seat next to the kids, in their carseat with them, or in the center console next to me--or I pile crap in the passenger seat when I'm the only adult in the car. Am I just creating a car filled with projectiles?

Is there somewhere I can go to learn about car safety outside of just carseats and airbags?
 

Maedze

New member
Does anyone know of a cargo net that will attach to tie downs in the cargo area of an SUV or van?

The last SUV I owned came with one, so I imagine such a thing exists.


Annnnd...here we are :) [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Cargo-Hammock-Style-Bell-Automotive/dp/B002RJC59Q"]Amazon.com: Cargo Net Hammock Style by Bell Automotive: Automotive[/ame]
 

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