Portable DVD Players?

We have been seeing a lot of these portable DVD players that attach with straps to the car headrests. Are they considered safe in a crash?

I would say so as long as properly attached? I've thought about one but don't know exactly how they attach, I'd imagine some long strips of velcro or some sort of clip then tightened onto the headrest? I'd be interested to know this for sure as well.

No, they are not considered safe because they are an after market product, and there is a very real possibility that in a crash they could come unfastened and become a projectile.

That being said, some people make the parental decision to use them anyways. I've made the parental decision to use them for long car rides (3+ hours) for my children. I bought ones that had the most substantial/secure straps I could find that connect to the headrests, and that I could get most firmly attached.

Also, I don't have any proof or data to back up my feelings/opinion, but in my mind, it seems that in a frontal crash the one most likely to become a projectile that will hit my kids in the face/head is the one in front of my rear-facing kids (since crash forces would be pulling it away from its anchor point instead of pushing it into the headrest/anchor point) I also only install them with the secondary (and therefore much lighter in weight) monitor being used for my rear-facing children. The heavier/main monitor is attached to the back of a headrest for use for my forward facing children.

You definitely have to weigh the risks vs benefits for your particular situation.

For me the decision came down to the fact that with my particular kids, I KNOW (from experience on many 3+ hour long car rides without a DVD player) that during a 3+ hour car ride, I WILL be a distracted driver for at least 45 minutes due to various kids (or all!) whining/crying/complaining/fighting/etc about SOMETHING. I also know, after using a DVD player for a few of the exact same trips, that they will NOT distract me for any more than about 5 mins if they have a DVD player. Being a distracted driver is very dangerous, so I chose to take the chance on the "IF we are in a wreck (which is lower chance since I wouldn't be distracted nearly as much), they MIGHT come unattached and cause extra injury" vs "I WILL be a distracted (and therefore dangerous) driver almost 1/3 of the drive"

For anything less than 3 hours, we don't use them, as my kids are able to entertain themselves with other things below the 3 hour threshold.

I have one I use for long trips. I frequently drive 3-4 hour trips alone with my 17 month old. I try to arrange our trips around when I think she will nap, but that's not always the case. Since she's RF, she can't see me, so she gets bored. I have it as tightly secured as possible, but I know there's always a risk. It's just one of those parental decisions.

No, they're not considered "safe". They didn't come with the vehicle and they're not a permanent fixture to the vehicle - thus, they'e a potential projectile. In saying that, however, I've also seen a post-crash vehicle where the factory-installed overhead DVD screen came detached (likely after being struck by another projectile in the vehicle).

We take risks every time we step into a vehicle. You never know what's going to happen.

I do have a set of "lightweight" portable DVD screens that I use for my RFer on long trips. And by long, I mean well over an hour. I've only used it once, in fact - for our roadtrip this past summer (1,000 miles each way). I have these: http://www.usa.philips.com/c/portable-dvd-player/17.8-cm-7-inch-lcd-dual-screens-pd7012_37/prd/ . When it wasn't in use, it was stored away.

FWIW, another member here has the same system and was in a significant crash a couple months ago (she had 3 RFers) - her screens stayed in place.

For what its worth...the ones that the previous poster linked are the ones I have as well.

I also have those Philips ones

Thanks for the responses. We are wrestling with this one. I do see the point about distracted driving! We have 3.5 hour drives up to Grandma's house that we do on a regular basis, so it might be useful in that situation. Interesting that the factory DVD player came off in one car and also interesting that the Phillips ones stayed put in a crash. You just never know I guess.

For those of you with the Phillips ones, have you had them long? Some seemed to be a bit unreliable in the reviews. But it's hard to know how much to trust those reviews sometimes. Would you recommend them? And for slanted headrests (we have a 2012 odyssey and the headrests slant), are there problems with this type of screen?

I've had mine for awhile; but, admittedly, it's only been used once. But that once consisted of over 20 hours in the car, so it got a good bit of use. They did fine. Absolutely fine. To be frank, personally, I didn't care about the reviews, I cared that as far as I had researched (in person), they were the lightest and had the most stabile "attachment" method. The fact that we have another member here who had a few of them in "real life crash testing" and they stayed attached, fuels that choice even more. No matter what product we use, though, it's still a risk we take.

We've had ours for about a month and it works great!