Done with second day of class...

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
So...the second day was better and worse.....
We wasted a LOT of time..we had a skills check, and this one lady simply couldn't get the stuff right, so we all literally stood there for an hour while the cop took her to each vehicle and explained the belt types, etc to her so she could finally get a pass on the test....this was the hour we were supposed to have for practicing seat installs!! So, no install practice for us, just a lot of standing around doing nothing in the garage.
Class did not really go over much today that I didn't know, except i was surprised at some of the tether placements in different vehicles....like the little ring on a strap in the pickup!!

I have just come to accept that i loathe the lead teacher and will just not worry about it any more. during our standing around doing nothing time, she went on and on about how she was SO upset her daughter only weighed 19 pounds at a year so she had to wait with bated breathe to turn her, and her poreferred seat of choice is the...comfortsport! I mean, really, how could i possibly have anything in common with a woman who HATES britax seats and ADORES the comfortsport????? :confused:

The class isn't really about learning, it's all blah, blah, blah, this WILL be on the test*wink* , blah, blah...they are skipping whole sections and when we had a review quiz this am, we(as in none of us) didn't know like half of it easily, because we hadn't covered it! (although my team did win the quiz competition, 2250 points to 800, LOL!!)

And then the whole class got really confused because one instructor told us a locking clip was NOT a locking clip but a belt shortening clip, and we argues and he held firm and got all upset at us for "being wrong", and just when we were all totally confused, he was like, oh no, my mistake, that is a locking clip!

Another instructor (we live right on the border of 2 states) is actually from the other state, where the laws are different, so he taught a whole section using HIS states laws, which are VERY diferent from ours, and totally confused everybody again....

Then the fan in our room went ballistic and over half the class was taught over the ROAR (approximating that of a jet engine at close range) of this stupid malfunctioning central air filtering fan thing....

Then, during a "what would be the best seating arrangement in this situaion" quesiton, the instructor told us to put a 2 year old in a carseat in the front seat in front of an airbag!!! He held firm despite numerous arguments.

When i asked a question about what to do about a long buckle stalk, i was (given a glare, and) told it would be covered later, and it wasn't.

The cops spent most of their time talking about tazer training, which they apparently had last week.

The nurses talked about everything from hair to nails, to condos to new cars to makeup and boyfriends.

The clinic director left early.

I tried to pay attention, while not exploding.


On another note, I helped a friend of a friend today, who, when she found out i was going to tech training, asked me about her seats (i was VERY clear that i am not yet a tech, only a student!) and when i checked them....OMG! It was like they just buckled them in, and then did not tighten them at all..all of the seats could be moved at least 6 inches at the belt path, and the seat in the third row was actually tilted over horizontal on the seat (she said it keeps doing that!). All it took was some brute force to tighten up the seats!!!! (oh, and she had LATCH, but didn't know it!, but since she didn't have her manual and i couldn't find her tether anchors, I had to use the seat belts)

ok
going now!
 
ADS

becca011906

Senior Community Member
sounds not so good, sorry! That's not fun at all...

I will address the whole 2 year old in the front seat w/ air bag... i think if it was the same set up as ours then there were kids like a 2 year old in 5pt seat, 10 month old rfing, and 4 year old in booster, and a 10 year old no seat... well yes the 2 year old in a harness seat needs to be the one in the front, as much as it sounds wrong it's safer for a harness seat to be in front of air bag... does that make since???
 

JaRylan

New member
Wow, sorry to hear that the class/instructor is not what it needs to be. If only someone popped around the corner and said "Smile, you're on Candid Camera" or you were being "Punk'd" by what's his name.
 

spokaneCPST

CPST Instructor
sounds not so good, sorry! That's not fun at all...

I will address the whole 2 year old in the front seat w/ air bag... i think if it was the same set up as ours then there were kids like a 2 year old in 5pt seat, 10 month old rfing, and 4 year old in booster, and a 10 year old no seat... well yes the 2 year old in a harness seat needs to be the one in the front, as much as it sounds wrong it's safer for a harness seat to be in front of air bag... does that make since???

We covered that question in my class too - and the 2 year old in the harnessed seat was definitely the right answer.
Renee
 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
I do know why he said it, but i pointed out that all of the seats I have ever had experience with (including the 2 i have right now, which happen to be the 2 they use most often for demonstrations in class, which is cool, LOL!) explicitly say you can not use them in front of an airbag. So, when I protested and brought that up, he looked on the 2 seats he was holding (a comfortsport and an Express/Vision), and LO and BEHOLD, there on the seat warning srticker (and in the manuals, I checked!) it DOES specifically say it can NOT be used in front of an airbag.
So, when I asked him what he would do IF the 2 yr old in that situation was in a seat which forbade being in front of an airbag, he said there would be no solution that would keep everyone safe, and of course i got another "why do you keep ruining my class?" glare. Sigh.
 

scatterbunny

New member
Yep, a 2yo in a FF harnessed seat in the front seat with an active airbag can, indeed, be an acceptable answer. :p

But everything else sounds awful, and much like my first, failed attempt at the CPST training. :rolleyes: I dropped out after the first day. It was horrible. This year was much better.

Just get through it so you can make a difference!

Isn't it scary though, how many "techs" will be certified from this class not knowing much at all?
 

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