What are some crazy things you've seen....

veggiegirl228 · Aug 27, 2007

So what is some of the crazy things you've seen parents doing with car seats?

I've seen a lady whose DS was just 11mo putting him into FF position, not sure what kind of seat think it's AO. 11 mo old!

People that use the infant seats facing foward!

Or I'm only going around the corner, they can sit on the floor of the car.

no car seat at all

front seat w/airbag with or w/out car seat and under 10 yrs old

It blows my mind what they are doing, I know not all people know what's what but it's sad to think just the same.

joolsplus3 · Aug 27, 2007

I saw a tether anchor hooked to one of the 'holes' on the sheetmetal inside the trunk once...it was bent just from being there, it would have ripped out in a crash, no doubt.

FF infant seat...my friend did that with my first baby in her car!!!

Too many more to remember....

spokaneCPST · Aug 27, 2007

The most recent one was at my check event last Saturday. Child was RF in an Enspira in an older car (mid 80's). Interestingly, it was "installed with LATCH." Hmm. Dad had pulled back the fabric on the vehicle cushion and attached the LATCH hooks to the springs in the seat!

At the check at the end of my certification class, someone had taken the d-ring from their Boulevard and screwed it into their trunk area, fed it up behind the seat, and was using it as a forward facing tether for his 4 month old. Ingenious? yes. Safe? NOOOOOOOOOO

Lots more, those are some of the ones that pop to mind right away.
Renee
OH, then there is the family who was taking their newborn home from a local hospital. The nurses insisted that their carseat was not reclined enough. The nurses told the dad to go buy 2x4's and put them under the seat to make it more reclined. They told dad he could cover them in felt to make them safer!! Thankfully the parents came to a check a few days later and some of our techs helped them get their seat in safely.

safeinthecar · Aug 27, 2007

Crazy things I've seen:

AO rfing tethered to....a stick

Fisher Price t-sheild rfing tethered to front passenger seat with a wire coat hanger ( this was the first car seat check I ever did)

Cosco something installed ffing with nothing but speaker wire. (this one was my Mom's first check)

Century 5500STE installed rfing in a Crown Vic with 6!!!!! seatbelts, 3 through rfing belt path, 3 through ffing belt path. The darn thing didn't touch the vehicle seat at all, just kinda hung there suspended. (some people try WAY too hard)

ffing something tethered to a ceiling hook ( the kind you use to hang a plant in the house) in the back dash.

Can't remember the car seat, but I know it was a VW Bus, the dad had literally BOLTED the car seat to the vehicle seat. And get this, the dad was, I kid you not, a rocket scientist. He worked for Lockhead.

I didn't check this seat, I saw it on the news when the sharpshootings in D.C. where going on, a couple in a pickup where being interviewed. In the center seat they had a baby in a bouncey seat. At least it was rfing:thumbsdown:

A seat that was made in Japan and was so flimsy that the entire shell could be bent forward 5-6 inches. This was not a misuse exactly, as the child was in a seat, and the seat was being used properly, and to give the mom credit, she was visiting from Japan, and using the opportunity to buy a seat that was much better than she had availible in Japan.

I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones that stick in my mind.

Kimberly

safeinthecar · Aug 27, 2007

Oh, I forgot this one,
I was driving to work one day and this guy in a truck is in the next lane over with a little girl in his lap while he is driving. Then I look closer. The guy's has one arm out the window, and the other arm stretched out across the bench seat. The little girl, no more than 6 or 7 is steering, not the guy!!!

Kimberly

skaterbabs · Aug 27, 2007

Wood used to adjust recline. No, I'm not joking.

CRS · Aug 27, 2007

Ummmmmm an evenflo convertible reclined so far back the kid was completely horizontal, as in flat, no angle at all! Not sure how they managed that actually.. Umm... A convertible reclined at about a 45degree angle EXCEPT that it was forward-facing. Umm.. A seatbelt wrapped right AROUND the seat instead of through the seatbelt slots. I mean, the kid was sitting in the seat, was harness, but the seatbelt threaded around the seat.. oh dear!

djma · Aug 27, 2007

The best was the most recent - a cosco summit in the backseat, not seatbelted in but the latch belts connected to the top tether anchors for the car. So the seat was in the middle, it was top tethered, and then the latch straps were connected to the other top tethers. So basically the seat would've been just hanging there. Nothing securing it down. Does that make sense? I was just standing there staring into this person's car and my DH comes up and was like "you look like you're about to break into this car, what are you looking at?" I showed him and he just shook his head.

Others...

FF infant seats

An AOE strapped in using all 3 seatbelts for the backseat. Extra security was the lady's excuse -

Baby in carrier - buckled, but the carrier was in the floor of the car.

You see a lot when you work in a drive thru!

veggiegirl228 · Aug 27, 2007

I still can't tell for sure but I know it's an evenflo booster seat with harness. This is the seat that mom of the 11 mo has....My goodness what are they thinking?

Patriot201 · Aug 27, 2007

Oh, there are so many!

My "favorite" (in a sad, sad way) was the forward-facing infant carseat with a load of loose bricks in the seat next to it. Score.

carseatcoach · Aug 27, 2007

A homemade LATCH belt made out of grocery bags and duct tape. The bags were knotted together into a snake and each end had the handles facing outward so that they could be tied onto the lower anchors -- because LATCH is so much safer!

cdncasper · Aug 27, 2007

FF seat in the middle of a back seat with one UAS latch on the right top tether and the other UAS latch on the left top tether

AOE with the harness put on upside down. Instead of threading from bottom to top she did top to bottom.

FF seat with UAS latch on one bar and the other latch attached to where the seatbelt bolts on.

Harness strap not put thru the shell, only thru the fabric.

Didn't see this one but heard of it. Carseat that grandpa made with concrete slabs, couch cushions and seatbelts from the wreckers.

The AO with the straps so loose that the 4 yr old could climb out without undoing it.

The baby in the minivan in a excersaucer kinda wedged between the door and seat.

safeinthecar · Aug 27, 2007

cdncasper said:
AOE with the harness put on upside down. Instead of threading from bottom to top she did top to bottom.

HTH is this even possible???????

[/QUOTE]
The baby in the minivan in a excersaucer kinda wedged between the door and seat.[/QUOTE]

They must have seen the thing about that spinny car seat that won the award

Kimberly

safeinthecar · Aug 27, 2007

Then there are those parents who strap Other things (like 5 gallon water jugs) into the child's car seat and leave the kid loose.

Wouldn't want a wet car after all.

Priorities people!!!!!

Kimberly

cdncasper · Aug 27, 2007

safeinthecar@mac.com said:
HTH is this even possible???????

The baby in the minivan in a excersaucer kinda wedged between the door and seat.[/QUOTE]

They must have seen the thing about that spinny car seat that won the award

Kimberly[/QUOTE]

She had taken it apart to wash the cover and when she put the harness straps back on she put it with the middle in the back and than thru the harness slots, put all the hardware back on and put the straps thru the bottom slots and attached it to the splitter plate. Very interesting indeed.

UlrikeDG · Aug 27, 2007

A log (bark still attached) under a rear facing seat to fix the recline angle.

Lower LATCH connectors attached to something we couldn't even see in a vehicle that didn't have LATCH. We crawled all around that car, including in the trunk and could not find a way to get that seat out. It turned out that the dad (who wasn't at the check) had actually pulled the bench part of the back seat out, connected the LATCH, then put the seat back in before tightening it down.

Connor's Mom · Aug 27, 2007

Some of these are CLASSIC! :ROTFLMAO:

Tiffanie · Aug 27, 2007

an infant carrier just sitting in the backseat rolling back and forth with an infant in it

small 2 or3 year old in a backless booster

CRS · Aug 27, 2007

UlrikeDG said:
A log (bark still attached) under a rear facing seat to fix the recline angle.

OMG! They left the bark still attached? What were they THINKING? :ROTFLMAO:hehehehe

Oh here's another one I just remembered. I was at a police check stop and we ticketed some people cause they had the kid sittin in the back on their Mom's lap with a perfectly good car seat in the front with wait for it......... a box of bruised bananas in it! When I told them to put the bananas in the back, and the kid in the seat - they refused!

safeinthecar · Aug 27, 2007

Kinda OT but kinda on,

The craziest thing I've ever had happen to me at a car seat event,

I was sitting in the back of an SUV talking and laughing and showing a mom how to reassemble the Nania Airway she had taken apart to wash. Here we sit, me, this mom, and a 5 yr old little girl, when this seriously fine cop pulls up on a motorcycle. He gets off the bike, Takes of his PD jacket and helmet ( he's wearing jeans and a t-shirt) and walks past us. The mom and I look at each other and realize we both stopped talking in the middle of the conversation, and the little girl stopped playing with her doll to watch this amazing guy take off his jacket and walk by. We look down the row of checkers and go into hysterics as every female he passes stops whatever they are doing and watches him. To this day I can't believe I reacted like that to a good looking guy. (Also to this day, you won't find me turning down an invitation to an event that this guy will be at

)

Kimberly

What are some crazy things you've seen....

New member

Admin - CPS Technician

CPST Instructor

Moderator - CPS Technician

Moderator - CPS Technician

Well-known member

Senior Community Member

New member

New member

Car-Seat.org Ambassador

Carseat Crankypants

New member

Moderator - CPS Technician

Moderator - CPS Technician

New member

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus

New member

New member

Senior Community Member

Moderator - CPS Technician

Car-Seat.Org Facebook Group

Sponsors

Forum statistics