Angle of seat question

dingohate

New member
I just completed my CRST training in York Region, ON and I had a question regarding something I was told about seat angle.

Our instructor said that child seats could be installed anywhere from 45-70 degrees. I understood 45 to be the MAX and that you could go more upright. He was surprised when I mentioned that some manufacturer's allow their convertible seats to be installed as upright as 30 degrees. I am surprised to hear they can be installed as reclined as 70 degrees. Can an experienced tech weigh in on this?
 
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Pixels

New member
Unless he is measuring like SKJP, where 90 is vertical and 0 is horizontal, he is very confused.

Assuming he's measuring the way the rest of the world does, where 0 is vertical and 90 is horizontal, he's wrong. 70 degrees is the maximum downward rotation that is allowed during the dynamic portion of crash testing. When they crash test the seat, they measure how far down the front of the seat goes, and that maximum is 70. It has nothing to do with what we need to know as techs, because as long as we install the seat according to manufacturer instructions, the seat will not go past 70.
 

momagaintojack

New member
Can I just say that I love that you are still thinking about the course. My FIL (and if this wasn't already supposed to capitals - it would have been in capitals cause I almost fell of the couch that he was asking me about it) was asking me about car seat safety issue (tethering) last night and took what I said as trustworthy since I'm now a "tech".

I'm glad to see that someone else thought our instructor was as mistaken as we believed him to be...
 
V

VanIsleMommy

Guest
I always thought 45' was the max too, but my radian xt manual shows a diagram of the seat installed at a "45' angle or more" .... which is confusing.
 

dingohate

New member
Originally I thought he had it backwards as well, which is why I chose my language carefully and included "as upright as 30 degrees" when I brought it up as a question. Also, when he was demonstrating the angle with his arm... he showed 45 degrees then 70 and according to where his imaginary seat back was he was reclining it MORE. When I mentioned a more upright install for toddlers who had full head control he looked at me like I had 2 heads. I didn't want to push the subject so I just said I wasn't sure. I didn't want to be the know-it-all who told him how to do his job kwim?

Anyways... I'm glad to know that 45 degrees is the maximum recline for any given seat (apart from special needs which I admittedly know nothing about)

It's official. I learned to use a locking clip in my tech class and THAT'S IT! heheheh Everything else I already knew from these boards :thumbsup:
 

snowbird25ca

Moderator - CPST Instructor
I always thought 45' was the max too, but my radian xt manual shows a diagram of the seat installed at a "45' angle or more" .... which is confusing.

The radian manual measures 45* or more from the horizontal plane instead of the vertical plane which everybody else uses.

Dingo - it sounds like he simply mixed up the maximum angle of downward rotation allowed during dynamic testing. The old curriculum never reflected anything other than 45* for newborns so unless he had been updated on the subject, he may not have known. The curriculum was updated last year, but most SJA offices are still using the 2007 curriculum, so it's no surprise if he doesn't have that knowledge... though I'd expect an instructor to stay more up to date than that...
 

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