FF top of ears rule

A

abigaylebelle

Active member
I noticed that in manuals it shows that the tips of the child's ears should not extend past the top of the shell, but in the drawings the child's eyebrows are level with the top of the ears. My kid's eyebrows are a lot higher than the tops of his ears. Admittedly, he might have small ears but in that case when will he pass the ff ears at top of shell rule? When his eyebrows go over or his ears?

Oh and I know most kids outgrow by shoulder height before that point but um my kid also has an enormous head and I think he might be an exception (or the roundabout 40 is unusual that way).
 
ADS
Keeanh

Keeanh

Well-known member
Haha! I have a couple kids with tiny, low-set ears too. The idea is to prevent whiplash, so it's where the shell is on the skull that matters, not the position of the ears. I would personally play it safe and go with the eyebrows. I've yet to run into that problem though -- my pumpkin-head (said affectionately) is still RF.
 
ketchupqueen

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
It's the top of the eyes, eyebrows are set different on different people. :) Ears and eyes are GENERALLY about the same but if you're dealing with really small or low ears, go with top of the eyes, instead.
 
joolsplus3

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
It's a pretty short seat, and I think my kids head was pushing the tops of ears rule a lot sooner than other seats, when she had room to grow at the shoulders... https://picasaweb.google.com/joolstag/LeahInCarseats#5241425925868399362
It's really all about preventing whiplash...as long as their heads can't flip backwards over the top of the seat, that's what's important. Heads fly up and back a lot, and harnesses stretch to allow more motion, but it's still not probably a problem if there's a tall seatback or high headrest behind the top of the seat as a backup catcher's mitt for that noggin. :)
 
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