RF in the front seat

elle7715 · Jun 6, 2007

In April I did a car seat safety presentation for a government class. It went really well, I covered the basics, handed out info sheets, and showed RF vs FF crash tests, and gave links to this site and others. As part of the presentation I said that a RF seat should NEVER be put in front of an airbag. Someone asked what would happen if the airbag went off. I said I wasn't sure but I had heard of cases where babies were internally decapitated. Someone else raised his hand and said that where he worked (we're in SE Michigan car land) they had done crash tests and that a child wouldn't be decapitated, they would ping pong between the airbag and the seat. I'm sure that's true, but haven't there also been cases of internal decapitation? Maybe he thought I meant complete decapitation? I just said I wasn't sure and he went on to explain how they were making sensors that would turn off the airbag if there was less than 50 lbs of weight in the front seat, etc. Which was great but not relevant for most of the parents in the class. Anyhow, so who's right?

skaterbabs · Jun 6, 2007

No. A RF child in front of an active airbag will not ping back and forth, and may not be internally decapitated. The child will be decapitated period. The airbag will literally blow the child's head off. I'm not sure where the picture is, but I'm sure someone will post it tomorrow. It shows a RF dummy after the airbag goes off and it's pretty graphic.

ThreeBeans · Jun 6, 2007

Complete decapitation.

elle7715 · Jun 6, 2007

I see. I was going to say decapitated period, but I REALLY didn't want to give false info out. They already thought I was a little, umm, overly safety conscious. I heard a horrible story about a little girl years ago...she was rearfacing in front of an airbag and they actually found her head in the back seat after an accident. Not sure if that's exactly what happened, it was a long time ago. I just thought it was a bit rude of him to contradict my presentation, AND act like it wasn't as big of a deal as I made it out to be.

joolsplus3 · Jun 6, 2007

Ping pong... uh... dude, an airbag isn't a balloon, it's more like hitting a truck.

This Rearfacing video is really good, shows an airbag hitting an RF seat http://www.iihs.org/research/topics/child_restraints/default.html

thepeach80 · Jun 6, 2007

I have some you tube videos too from someone on Delphi that shows how far an airbag throws a carseat, there's no way the carseat would just ping around and be fine.

joolsplus3 · Jun 6, 2007

Ah hah, that's the picture I was looking for! Thanks for having it

mommycat · Jun 6, 2007

In the very last scene in the video (assuming I was looking at the right one - "Kids and Airbags") they show the mom stuffing a teddybear in between the door and the car seat (which is a t-shield, but whatever). Is this just to keep it out of the way, or is there something recommended about blocking/cushioning the side of the seat??

mommyto4kiddos · Jun 6, 2007

I will just put my experience in which was thankfully a good outcome. When My oldest was just a few months old she was rear facing in a infant seat, a weird one that goes from rocking when not in the car to a carseat. And the airbag did hit the top edge of the carseat but she slept through the entire thing. What woke her up was me taking the whole carseat out cause it was so smokey in the car and it was raining outside. Im glad it turned out ok, now i know alot more and learning more everyday. Taking the 4 day training in a few weeks.

RF in the front seat

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