leighi123
Active member
My uncle along with other family members have worked for Ford for pretty much forever now, and they are also involved with many things though U of M. When my uncle came to visit, he was very interested in talking carseats with me. 
A couple things that came up were harness vs. booster for older kids (that could ride in either one), and also higher weight limit RF seats in the U.S.
So anyway, my uncle I guess talked with someone he knows who does crash testing, and gave him my email and he sent me this (based on whatever my uncle discussed with him, so Im not exactly sure how he worded his questions):
Hi Leigh-Ann,
Sorry for the delay, I've been in St. Louis for the last week without much internet access. At the UofM Transportation Research Institute, we perform a variety of crash tests, mostly focussed on wheelchairs and child restraints. Child restraints are not my area of expertise, but I can give you some unofficial preliminary thoughts, and introduce you to someone who has years of experience testing child restraints.
Most injuries from car accidents are caused by the occupant striking some part of the vehicle interior. The better the coupling the occupant's mass to the vehicle, the better off the occupant will be in an accident. Also, note that race-car drivers use 5-point harnesses and have unusually high success in high-speed impacts. The choice to use a 3-point belt is for convenience and occupant comfort, not safety. Everyone would use 5-point belts if safety were the primary goal. While I cannot cite a study comparing booster seats to forward-facing child restraints, I think a similar comparison of safety/convenience can be drawn.
The purpose of a booster seat is to increase the seat belt angles and keep the vehicle's lap belt across the child's pelvis, preventing 'submarining' - where the child slides underneath the lap belt and subjects the soft tissue of their abdomen to the lap belt loads. This objective is achieved with forward-facing restraints, but the booster seat offers more convenience and occupant freedom for more mature children.
All child restraints are tested at the limits that the manufacturer specifies (if they claim a 45lb limit for rear-facing, then the seat was tested with a 45-lb ATD). Successfully passing these tests indicates an appropriate level of occupant safety. It is very difficult to make any official recommendation or comparison with safety devices that have passed these tests - any manufacturer recommendations should be followed for the best results.
If you would like, I can pass you along to one of our researchers with years of experience in child seat testing who may be able to give you better answers. Aside from any studies that she can cite, she will probably be bound to give generic answers because we don't want the liability of official recommendations.
Quentin
Thought it was interesting how he mentioned race car drivers, sense I've seen here that its not exactly comparable to kids in carseats.
A couple things that came up were harness vs. booster for older kids (that could ride in either one), and also higher weight limit RF seats in the U.S. So anyway, my uncle I guess talked with someone he knows who does crash testing, and gave him my email and he sent me this (based on whatever my uncle discussed with him, so Im not exactly sure how he worded his questions):
Hi Leigh-Ann,
Sorry for the delay, I've been in St. Louis for the last week without much internet access. At the UofM Transportation Research Institute, we perform a variety of crash tests, mostly focussed on wheelchairs and child restraints. Child restraints are not my area of expertise, but I can give you some unofficial preliminary thoughts, and introduce you to someone who has years of experience testing child restraints.
Most injuries from car accidents are caused by the occupant striking some part of the vehicle interior. The better the coupling the occupant's mass to the vehicle, the better off the occupant will be in an accident. Also, note that race-car drivers use 5-point harnesses and have unusually high success in high-speed impacts. The choice to use a 3-point belt is for convenience and occupant comfort, not safety. Everyone would use 5-point belts if safety were the primary goal. While I cannot cite a study comparing booster seats to forward-facing child restraints, I think a similar comparison of safety/convenience can be drawn.
The purpose of a booster seat is to increase the seat belt angles and keep the vehicle's lap belt across the child's pelvis, preventing 'submarining' - where the child slides underneath the lap belt and subjects the soft tissue of their abdomen to the lap belt loads. This objective is achieved with forward-facing restraints, but the booster seat offers more convenience and occupant freedom for more mature children.
All child restraints are tested at the limits that the manufacturer specifies (if they claim a 45lb limit for rear-facing, then the seat was tested with a 45-lb ATD). Successfully passing these tests indicates an appropriate level of occupant safety. It is very difficult to make any official recommendation or comparison with safety devices that have passed these tests - any manufacturer recommendations should be followed for the best results.
If you would like, I can pass you along to one of our researchers with years of experience in child seat testing who may be able to give you better answers. Aside from any studies that she can cite, she will probably be bound to give generic answers because we don't want the liability of official recommendations.
Quentin
Thought it was interesting how he mentioned race car drivers, sense I've seen here that its not exactly comparable to kids in carseats.
