SO: Safety issues with sitting beside a FF seat

jessi f

New member
It's been discussed that a kid in a NB booster or just a seatbelt could be hurt in a side impact by cracking their head on a FF seat beside them. I think I remember reading that sitting beside a FF seat or even another person was possibly beneficial in a side impact (and not just with the britax SICT seats). Like having something stable and not made of glass, metal, ect.. to bounce of of was better than just flailing around. It doesnt seem like it would be that different than a seat without EPS in the head area. Which I would prefer to have but I would feel safe using a seat without if necessary. So anyways, has anyone else heard of this or did I just make it up in my crazy head? :p
 
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Brianna

New member
I'm quite interested in this. It seems that smacking your head off of anything in a crash isn't going to feel too great, and I personally would not want to sit next to a FF car seat if possible. Then again, maybe I don't want to sit next to a person either, in case my head hits theirs in a crash. (I'm only kind of kidding)
 

Baylor

New member
I can not imagine a child hitting the outside of my GN in a crash with that force. I never put anyone next to it because of that.

If I am traveling with Passengers I move the GN and the FR85 next to each other to leave a clear bench for Passengers.

I just don't feel good about it.
 

love-pink

Well-known member
Thank you for starting this thread. I will be closely following along.

While it may not be anyones ideal to sit next to a ffing seat or another person, its a daily necessity for some.

Thank you again OP. :D
 

jessi f

New member
I'm quite interested in this. It seems that smacking your head off of anything in a crash isn't going to feel too great, and I personally would not want to sit next to a FF car seat if possible. Then again, maybe I don't want to sit next to a person either, in case my head hits theirs in a crash. (I'm only kind of kidding)

This made me LOL bc I just remembered wrecking with my BFF in the little cavalier she drove in highschool. She lost control going around a curve and drove off a 10-15 foot overhang. At some point in the wreck we cracked our heads together so hard everything went grey and sparkly... But who knows, maybe if her head hadnt been there I would have overextended my neck and got sideways whiplash (if such a thing exists :p ) We were both fine BTW, other than sore noggins and some bruises from our seatbelts.
 

christineka

New member
I think that most often the head will fly forward before it goes sideways, so the head would not be on the car seat (and those giant sip headwings aren't likely to do much protecting of the kid in the seat either). I still like the giant headwings to keep my kids in place while sleeping.
 

cmm7

New member
I can't find it but I started a thread like this last summer and it seemed the general consensus was it IS safer to have a kiddo in a seatbelt next to a car seat for some extra SIP.
 

Brianna

New member
This made me LOL bc I just remembered wrecking with my BFF in the little cavalier she drove in highschool. She lost control going around a curve and drove off a 10-15 foot overhang. At some point in the wreck we cracked our heads together so hard everything went grey and sparkly... But who knows, maybe if her head hadnt been there I would have overextended my neck and got sideways whiplash (if such a thing exists :p ) We were both fine BTW, other than sore noggins and some bruises from our seatbelts.

I'm so glad to be rid of my Cavalier. I believe the driver door crash rating was 1 star. I'm a little comforted by your story though.
 

Baylor

New member
What about Side impact crashes? I agree in a frontal crash it may not be a factor, But side impact? That concerns me greatly.
 

NVMBR02

New member
I am very curious about this as well.

In a perfect world you wouldn't want your head to hit anything in a crash. But really, not everyone has the space to be sure no one is sitting net to a seat or another person. My oldest rides in a nbb full time. In my car she is in the second row outboard and there is no one next to her. That set up wont likely change and even if it does she wont need to sit net to anyone unless we have etra peole in the car. In Dh's car she is net to DD2, who is rfing, for now. Eventually DD2 will be forward facing though and both dd1 and dd2 will be in nbb or even just a seatbelt :)eek:) there is no possible way for them not to be sitting next to a person or a seat when that happens unless we buy another car, which is not likely to happen.

My feeling is, it would be better to hit the carseat that to have two heads somehow smash together or head to another body part but maybe I am just not thinking clearly here.
 

jessi f

New member
I'm so glad to be rid of my Cavalier. I believe the driver door crash rating was 1 star. I'm a little comforted by your story though.

This same BFF of mine also totaled a different cavalier in HS. She was texting ( :thumbsdown: ) and drove off the road and hit a drainpipe for a driveway. Flipped several times, but again other than bumps and bruises she was ok. The car in the wreck when I was with her replaced that one. She actually drives another cavalier now. I was all :twitch: when she told me she got another one.
 

NatesMamma

New member
Hmmm. In a crash, everything is going to be moving toward the point of impact, right? That would include the shell of the FF seat, at least to some degree. Given that, I think I'd rather sit next to a carseat, which is at least slightly moveable, than risk smacking my head into sometime completely immobile like a door pillar or worst of all, the intruding vehicle/object! Not that it would feel good either way.

Also, your head would not have very much room to move before hitting the seat beside you. less distance = less time to accelerate = less force at the time of impact (Um, assuming I'm remembering my college physics correctly. :eek:) Although the forces involved in a crash are huge, I'm just not sure how hard your head could crack into something that is just a few inches away. :shrug-shoulders:
 

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician
I think the study was for sitting next to passengers and we extrapolated it to car seats, but I'm not certain. Does anyone have a link?

I've been wondering, but keep forgetting to ask, isn't a booster w/headwings going to travel forward at the same rate as the head, until it is stopped by something? Unlike the vehicle headrest, which is attached to the vehicle and therefore held back, the booster will continue moving at the same speed as the vehicle until something stops it - and wouldn't that "something" be the child, as they are stopped by the seatbelt? Confused as to how the child would be thrown out of the wings, but I'm definitely willing to hear a technical explanation.

(Jessi, if you feel this is too much if a tangent let me know and I'll make a s/o s/o thread lol.)
 

Brianna

New member
Part of the study
"Effect of Increased Rear Row Occupancy on Injury to Seat Belt Restrained Children in Side impact Crashes"

Seat belt restrained children aged 4 to 15 who were riding in the rear row of passenger cars reduced their risk of injury by up to 58 percent in side-impact crashes if they were riding with another seat-belted passenger in the rear row. The data suggests that development of a restraint system that limits side-to-side motion would be effective in reducing injury during side-impact crashes.
Initial analyses showed that head injuries were the most frequent injury in all seating positions, with struck-side and center-seated occupants having similar risks of injury and non-struck side occupants at the lowest risk of injury.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-09/chop-htb090905.php

I wonder if sitting next to another person is different than being next to a car seat- the car seat is installed whereas a person is not.
 

Baylor

New member
I think the study was for sitting next to passengers and we extrapolated it to car seats, but I'm not certain. Does anyone have a link?

I've been wondering, but keep forgetting to ask, isn't a booster w/headwings going to travel forward at the same rate as the head, until it is stopped by something? Unlike the vehicle headrest, which is attached to the vehicle and therefore held back, the booster will continue moving at the same speed as the vehicle until something stops it - and wouldn't that "something" be the child, as they are stopped by the seatbelt? Confused as to how the child would be thrown out of the wings, but I'm definitely willing to hear a technical explanation.

(Jessi, if you feel this is too much if a tangent let me know and I'll make a s/o s/o thread lol.)

What about if its Tethered? I mean I know the tether stretches and gives some too... I don't understand the mechanics of tethers in a crash more than what I have learned here...
 

love-pink

Well-known member
I am very curious about this as well.

In a perfect world you wouldn't want your head to hit anything in a crash. But really, not everyone has the space to be sure no one is sitting net to a seat or another person. My oldest rides in a nbb full time. In my car she is in the second row outboard and there is no one next to her. That set up wont likely change and even if it does she wont need to sit net to anyone unless we have etra peole in the car. In Dh's car she is net to DD2, who is rfing, for now. Eventually DD2 will be forward facing though and both dd1 and dd2 will be in nbb or even just a seatbelt :)eek:) there is no possible way for them not to be sitting next to a person or a seat when that happens unless we buy another car, which is not likely to happen.

My feeling is, it would be better to hit the carseat that to have two heads somehow smash together or head to another body part but maybe I am just not thinking clearly here.

My feelings exactly... To me the carseat would flex a little with someone hitting it as opposed to smacking head to head, there is nothing there to flex. I also worry about their bodies bending sharply sideways against a rfing seat. Maybe breaking ribs? If the ff seat is there maybe it would somewhat keep their body aligned. :confused:
 

jessi f

New member
I think the study was for sitting next to passengers and we extrapolated it to car seats, but I'm not certain. Does anyone have a link?

I've been wondering, but keep forgetting to ask, isn't a booster w/headwings going to travel forward at the same rate as the head, until it is stopped by something? Unlike the vehicle headrest, which is attached to the vehicle and therefore held back, the booster will continue moving at the same speed as the vehicle until something stops it - and wouldn't that "something" be the child, as they are stopped by the seatbelt? Confused as to how the child would be thrown out of the wings, but I'm definitely willing to hear a technical explanation.

(Jessi, if you feel this is too much if a tangent let me know and I'll make a s/o s/o thread lol.)

Youre fine, I'm just excited I started a thread people are posting in :p

In this thread http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=126504 Wendy says it's safer. And I have I very hard time not believing anything she says about carseats :D
 

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