Question Why are harness positions different

vonfirmath · Apr 19, 2011

Today's car seat tip was about where harnesses go in RFing seats and Anne brought up the idea that the harness is different rear-facing in Swedish seats. Why? Isn't the physics the same here and there? What is it about their seats that makes the harness need to be routed differently?

armywife12 · Apr 19, 2011

I think it is because of the foot prop that they have on their seats to keep them from ramping up the seat. They can also rf until the top of their ears are even with the top of the seat because of the foot prop. There might be more to it but that's all I know

Pixels · Apr 19, 2011

The SmartSeat requires the harness to be below the shoulders (not at the shoulders) because the chest Gs were too high with it at. Most seats are fine with shoulders at the slots. Physics is the same everywhere, but the seats are designed differently. What works with one seat doesn't work with all of them.

It's my understanding that the primary reason they require the harness to be above the shoulders is due to spinal compression. We keep the harness below, and I don't know that we have any evidence that spinal compression is a concern with a RFing seat. We are more concerned about the child ramping up and out of the seat, especially since we don't have foot props to limit downward rotation.

scariestone · Apr 19, 2011

Its because Swedish seats are installed at a very upright angle(as little as 10 degrees) so in an accident, the child just gets pushed into the seat. Whereas with US seats that are at a 30-45 degree angle the child goes into the seat and also upwards. The footprop does also lessen or eliminate downward rotation.

Dillipop · Apr 19, 2011

I thought the harness below was a throw back to the awful 3 point seats we used to have. With a 3 point, there is nothing to keep a child from ramping up. A 5 point harness will do a better job at keeping a child from ramping up, since there are points of restraint at the hips.

Not to say this is why, it's just what I've heard over the years.

Question Why are harness positions different

vonfirmath

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armywife12

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Pixels

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scariestone

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Dillipop

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