Parents Magazine says Use Latch

bnsnyde

New member
Just doing some reading for fun...

Parents Magazine (September 2012) has a carseat quiz and lots of info. Page 84...
After getting done telling you in the center seat, kids were 43% less likely to be injured in a crash (which is awesome!), they say to always use Latch b/c you can generally get a "tighter install" that way (noting that some cars don't have center latch, of course, but probably not driving the message home because it often SEEMS that there is center latch). Then the same Dr. recommends using Latch even if it means placing kids outboard. And no mention of weight limits.

I do get great installs with Latch on some seats, but I would never put a seat anywhere other than center unless I had a really good reason. No Latch isn't one of them. They are saying to use Latch no matter what, it sounds like.
 
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ADS

G8r4evr

New member
Interesting, TFS. Im struggling trying to decide where to place my daugther for her short ride to school. She is harnessed in our full time car, but I am switching her to booster mode in the car she rides a few blocks in every day. I was going to use latch and put her behind the driver seat, mainly for selfish reasons...I have a bad back and reaching to the center to get her in and out takes its toll, but "43%" is making me second think that. We dont have latch in the center though, so I guess we would have to buckle the seatbelt when its unoccupied?
 

Cryssy Jane

New member
Hmm always interesting to hear. I think out of all my personal installs and all the seats I've had I've probably used latch less than 10 times. I'm not a big fan as in both our vehicles the lower anchors are pretty buried. My seatbelt installs are much more secure and less time consuming that fiddling with the latch connectors.

Sent from my iPhone using Car-Seat.Org
 

Keeyamah

Active member
Yeah, I couldn't even get a latch install with either of my seats until my DS was over a year. I had to have another person look at my connectors and show me how they worked. Only reason I even wanted to install it with latch was to make accessing the 3rd row in my van easier. Now, for me, its a little bit easier to do a latch install than a belt install, just because the tightening process doesn't take as long and is a little less complicated. Thankfully my latch limits are 48lbs, but that still means I've only 8lbs left on it for DS.
 

whiteyacht

Active member
Hah, I can't use LATCH for our CA. The seat installs on top of one connector, which seems unsafe. Wish I could, as it tips with seatbelt install.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
The article has some good info- and then some really weird misprioritizations.

Also, I've seen various studies with various numbers but I have NEVER heard as high as 42%. I want a source on that.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
Interesting. I'd like to see the whole of all these studies, not just abstracts, to understand both methodology and what data they're analyzing better. Because, well, some come up with WAY higher numbers than others. I'm not disputing it's a significant difference- I'm convinced it is- but when the numbers vary so much it's hard to know which one to use with parents.
 

Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
Great. So this will possibly make people believe that LATCH is safer than seatbelt installations.

I just had to dispell that misconception yesterday, when a person with whom I was interacting was trying to argue with me that it is better to use LATCH and a seatbelt OVER the seat to install two Regents for two kids who are both over 40 pounds. When I told him that first of all, you can't use both LATCH and seatbelts at the same time, and that second, both kids are too heavy for LATCH, he told me LATCH was safer and that there was no reason to not use both forms of installation. :mad: He also tried to tell me that it was okay to just tuck the tether behind the headrest because there were no real tether anchors in his car. :mad: But he was 100% convinced that LATCH is safest.
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
Yeah, all those NHTSA ads about LATCH don't help either. I wish they'd place more importance on educating parents about tether anchors, and less on lower anchors. Half the installs I see come in using lower anchors I have to do with seatbelt instead (child's weight, positioning, etc.) and we all know tether anchor use is abysmal. Even when they're using the lower anchors!
 

sparkyd

Active member
I was going to use latch and put her behind the driver seat, mainly for selfish reasons...I have a bad back and reaching to the center to get her in and out takes its toll, but "43%" is making me second think that.

I don't think bad back is a selfish reason. I have back problems and I consider it a very legit reason for an outboard install.

I do get great installs with Latch on some seats, but I would never put a seat anywhere other than center unless I had a really good reason. No Latch isn't one of them. They are saying to use Latch no matter what, it sounds like.

I disagree with putting too much emphasis on centre installs. Is it safER? Yes. Is it ideal to do it if you can? Yes. Should parents be made to feel like they are endangering their children if they do outboard installs? No. Sometimes a centre install isn't possible, including once you've got more than one kid. I'm not saying I agree with the article that you should choose outboard over centre so you can use LATCH, but I don't think it makes sense to go overboard with insisting on centre installs either. If you can, great. If not, so be it.
 
G

guest1

Guest
I have my DDs seat outboard behind passenger and I still regularly think about putting her back in the middle.
 

bnsnyde

New member
I totally am a freak about center installs and will do it no matter what, lol. As long as it safely installs there, of course. I'm talking about my own vehicle, though. That's the only carseat stuff I do since my kids are always with me.

I must admit the number (43% or whatever it it, depending on the study) made me feel guilty for having my infant outboard as a baby, and I had just one kid then!

I get the bad back thing. Bad backs just stink. Mine gave out a month ago or so from shoving the toddler into the center. Now he's in an Orbit, outboard (I'm really pleased so far, as is my back) but I still make a kid sit in the center (but a kid who can get in there by herself) and have 3 in a row in the van (maybe not the easier set-up). I just can't give up the safety of that center seat, and we get good installs there.

I would never tell someone not to do outboard (really, it's their choice). But for us, center is a priority.
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
"43% safer" sounds really important and impressive, but you have to look at what the starting number is. Its like the risk of uterine rupture during a VBAC. There's a 50% greater chance of uterine rupture during a VBAC. But the non-VBAC risk is like 0.01 percent. So 50-time-greater risk is still miniscule. (I sort of made those numbers up, BTW, but it's something like that.

A child properly restrained in the back of the car is very safe. They are, in most cases, safER in the center, but not to the point that people should freak out about it, especially given that anyone with more than one kid usually has no choice but to have one outboard.
 

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