Intergrated child seats in a Tesla, WDYT?

AtTheSouthDam · Oct 4, 2011

So DH found this, rear facing seats with a five point harness in the back of a Tesla hatch back. (he's been eying the Tesla's for a while now). They are labeled as children's seats and crash tested to a rear-end impact of 50 mph. I was just wondering what tech and fellow car seat enthusiasts think of them.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...56150462801.372088.18790602800&type=1&theater The link will take you the their facebook page where you can hopefully see these seats.

Pixels · Oct 4, 2011

If they are labeled as child restraints, they are held to the exact same standard as every other child restraint.

The only difference between integrated restraints and add-on restraints is add-on restraints are tested on the standardized bench while integrated seats are tested in the actual vehicle. These particular integrated seats happen to be rear facing, but they are still tested for a frontal impact.

They claim they have tested for a rear impact. Great. There's no standard, nor any oversight for such a test. It's a lot like manufacturer claims of side impact testing. Since there's neither a standard nor oversight, we don't know exactly how good a particular restraint might do. It's certainly no worse than anything else on the market.

LISmama810 · Oct 4, 2011

Interesting.

My neighbor is a Tesla engineer, and he had mentioned that they would have rear-facing seats for kids. I brought up the conundrum of what happens when you have seats for smaller kids, but also have laws stating that you have to use child restraints (which can't be installed there) to 6, 8, etc years. He sort of blew me off.

However, I didn't realize (and maybe at the time he didn't either--this was two years ago) that they would have integrated harnesses. That changes things.

I'd still like more info, but that's intriguing.

LISmama810 · Oct 4, 2011

Pixels said:
They claim they have tested for a rear impact. Great. There's no standard, nor any oversight for such a test. It's a lot like manufacturer claims of side impact testing. Since there's neither a standard nor oversight, we don't know exactly how good a particular restraint might do. It's certainly no worse than anything else on the market.

I didn't read the claim myself, but I wonder if the rear crash test was more to prove they're safe from an intrusion standpoint, not necessarily an injury criteria one.

turtlemama · Oct 4, 2011

Is this a 7 passenger car? Not SUV, crossover etc? Because that's awesome!

christineka · Oct 4, 2011

turtlemama said:
Is this a 7 passenger car? Not SUV, crossover etc? Because that's awesome!

Yeah, until you need to go grocery shopping for 7!

Dmcj13 · Oct 4, 2011

From the picture it looks like the harness straps are going to come from above most childrens heads? Is that safe? This might, however be a good way to rear face older children!

turtlemama · Oct 4, 2011

christineka said:
Yeah, until you need to go grocery shopping for 7!

I think the cargo area is under the hood? It doesn't have a motor.

Pixels · Oct 4, 2011

Dmcj13 said:
From the picture it looks like the harness straps are going to come from above most childrens heads? Is that safe? This might, however be a good way to rear face older children!

It looks like how integrated harnesses on buses work. See the yellow plastic looking thing on the harness? That will slide down to the child's shoulder level.

I probably wouldn't put an extremely small child in it, but that's based at least as much on the crotch strap position as the harness height.

jourdysmom · Oct 4, 2011

It doesn't have a motor, but all the batteries etc have to be somewhere... So I think a grocery getter it is not

And at $50k+ it is WAY out of our reach in this household!

turtlemama · Oct 4, 2011

The battery is flattened out and in the floor part of the car from what I saw on the website. I was wondering what the cost would be. That's almost twice what we make per year

thtr4me · Oct 4, 2011

My concern would be safety of the jump seat occupants in a rear crash.

Carrie_R · Oct 4, 2011

Hum. What are the weight minimum and maximums on those puppies?

creideamh · Oct 5, 2011

I like picking out my own seats...

jubgulia · Oct 5, 2011

OMG, I so need that! I think this is my answer to the "If you won the lottery..." thread.

Angela · Oct 5, 2011

Carrie_R said:
Hum. What are the weight minimum and maximums on those puppies?

I asked on the fb page. The only reply I've gotten was under 10 years of age back there.

Evolily · Oct 5, 2011

I think that's awesome!!!

InternationalMama · Oct 6, 2011

One problem I have read about the integrated child seats is that they need to be replaced after a crash just like any other carseat and it can be very expensive (or sometimes people haven't done it, if you buy the car used).

Evolily · Oct 6, 2011

InternationalMama said:
One problem I have read about the integrated child seats is that they need to be replaced after a crash just like any other carseat and it can be very expensive (or sometimes people haven't done it, if you buy the car used).

The same thing applies to seat belts too. It's possible you would just have to replace the harness, not the whole bench.

I would definitely add this to my things to buy if I win the lottery! It will be interesting if other manufacturers start adding these seats to their vehicles, I'd imagine this option would make cars more enticing to young families, thus improving the environmental factors and probably increasing safety by having kids rear facing to higher ages.

InternationalMama · Oct 6, 2011

Does anybody else feel like there is less SIP in these seats than you would get in a regular harnessed child restraint? I can't really tell from the pics.

Intergrated child seats in a Tesla, WDYT?

New member

New member

Admin - CPS Technician

Admin - CPS Technician

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

CPST Instructor

New member

New member

Ambassador - CPS Technician

Well-known member

Active member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

Car-Seat.Org Facebook Group

Sponsors

Forum statistics