Does rf bracing actually matter at all?

pepsicola · Oct 23, 2010

I was thinking about this earlier and wanted to see what everyone else thinks of this.

I was under the impression that the benefit to bracing a rear facing convertable was that it helped prevent over-rotation in a front collison. But now that I think about it, that dosen't make any sense. If you watch any IIHS crash test video, you can see that the front seats' backs move forward a lot when the car crashes. It seems that bracing dosen't make a lick of difference in those types of crashes, because the front seat will move forward allowing the car seat behind it to rotate downward.

So what's the point, and why do some manufacturers encourage it (SK/Britax) while most forbid it?

jjordan · Oct 23, 2010

I don't know that SK and Britax encourage it per se, but they do allow it. I have heard techs that say it can be beneficial from the standpoint of reducing overrotation, but I haven't heard that as an official line from SK or Britax. (Which is not to say that's not their official line, just that I haven't heard that.) For some people it can make a big difference as far as how a seat fits in their car (in cars that don't forbid touching/bracing).

I have a RF Britax seats braced against the front passenger seat because otherwise I'd have to move the seat up another notch, and in my small car, the seat is already not back as far as it would otherwise go. Since I'm supposed to be as far away from the airbag as I can be, it's nice to have seats behind me that allow for bracing. (Although, if I had the new Britax convertible back there, I could have the seat all the way back and still have breathing room between the back of my seat and the back of the RF convertible...)

NannyMom · Oct 23, 2010

A CPST-I I worked with told me if the carseat is braced on the vehicle seat, it will prevent a impact from the rotating carseat hitting the vehicle seat. Um... thinking through that, I don't know if she was right or not.

sunnymw · Oct 23, 2010

NannyMom said:
A CPST-I I worked with told me if the carseat is braced on the vehicle seat, it will prevent a impact from the rotating carseat hitting the vehicle seat. Um... thinking through that, I don't know if she was right or not.

If I'm reading that right it would make sense. Since the car seat is actually already touching the vehicle seat, it would move forward WITH the seat... instead of rotating INTO it, which would kind of be like another point of impact.

NannyMom · Oct 24, 2010

sunnymw said:
If I'm reading that right it would make sense. Since the car seat is actually already touching the vehicle seat, it would move forward WITH the seat... instead of rotating INTO it, which would kind of be like another point of impact.

Yes, that's what she meant. And it makes sense. Until I start to think.... will the carseat rotate at the same speed that the front seat will? If not, there will still be an impact at some point.

pepsicola · Oct 24, 2010

I am also skeptical.

I am imagining a braced car seat in one of those IIHS tests, and i cannot imagine that they will move in unison. They are different objects with different centers of gravity and attached to the vehicle in completely different ways.

I guess the main thing that's bothering me is why can't I brace, say, a My Ride? Graco apparently does not allow it, but for me that would be the only way it would fit in my car. If I could put the seat back against it then it would fit with enough room for the front seat.

Does rf bracing actually matter at all?

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