Thoughts on heavier car seats.

purplemama · Jan 23, 2012

I got to thinking about this today. I ordered a $125 GN from Target possibly for DS2 because I'm not sure I like the Maestro. Got it today and have played with it a little bit. I'm surprised at how heavy it is. The Maestro is much much lighter.
So I was thinking about how the weight of the car seat matters when it comes to being in a crash. If I'm recalling past threads right the GN and Radians have good head excursion "numbers" for FF.
Bear with me here, I'm having trouble putting thoughts into words

.

What I guess I'm trying to say is would a heavier seat move farther forward while FF in the event of a crash? I mean, in a crash everything weighs more so wouldn't a heavier seat stretch belts more and move farther forward? And what effect would this have on performance?
I know that seats are all tested the same, all seats are safe. But what about a more real to life sceanario?

Any insight about this would be appreciated. Thanks.

zactayaus · Jan 23, 2012

Most heavier car seats are reinforced with a steal frame or bars running down the back. Those are not going to flex much if any in a crash. That's how they get good head excursion numbers without using a top tether.

Also seat belts are designed to hold back up to like a 300lb man. A wee little car seat (even a heavy one) plus a child (even at the max weight of the seat) isn't going to stretch the seat belt any more than it was designed to. Now as for using a heavier seat as a booster that was not latched in...well that's another story in my book.

purplemama · Jan 23, 2012

zactayaus said:
Most heavier car seats are reinforced with a steal frame or bars running down the back. Those are not going to flex much if any in a crash. That's how they get good head excursion numbers without using a top tether. Also seat belts are designed to hold back up to like a 300lb man. A wee little car seat (even a heavy one) plus a child (even at the max weight of the seat) isn't going to stretch the seat belt any more than it was designed to. Now as for using a heavier seat as a booster that was not latched in...well that's another story in my book.

I was not thinking so much the car seat flexing as just moving farther forward from the vehicle seat and how that would effect things.

I got to thinking about it after experiencing the weight difference in seats and was wondering about others thoughts about it.

mama2girls · Jan 24, 2012

Just wanted to comment - it would SEEM that a heavier seat would move more in a crash, however both the Nautilus and the Radian have good head excursion numbers in testing. If I remember right, I think the Radian tests as well untethered as some other seats do tethered. So, logically, I very much see your question, but these two particular seats perform very well in spite of their weight. How much a seat moves around may have a lot more to do with it's shape, or center of gravity, or seatbelt geometry, or who knows what, than the weight of the seat itself.

purplemama · Jan 24, 2012

Thank you both for your replies. What you both said made some sense but I just wish we had more data about how seats are tested. And about how different factors effect seat performance.

But I feel better now.

Thoughts on heavier car seats.

purplemama

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