Need link for why OHS seats are dangerous!

Holly · Feb 5, 2008

on my local mommy forum, someone was asking whether or not to buy a used seat and I piped up and said no, if you need to, get a scenera, but be sure to get the 5 pt version and not the OHS kind because they are dangerous.
Now its a few days later and another mom is asking about them and wants to know what to use for her foster child who came with one of those seats, she wants to make sure she is as safe as possible before leaving them. I wanted to be able to show her a link or something that talks about why they are so dangerous.
Are there any crash test videos in one of those seats?

wendytthomas · Feb 5, 2008

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/fivepointshield.aspx

And a crash test
http://www.kidsridesafe.com/NL_Supplements/Oct-Dec-04/ONLEFT.AVI

Wendy

classicseats · Feb 5, 2008

Wendy, the link to the crash test doesn't work?

wendytthomas · Feb 5, 2008

Rats. That's the only one I have, too.

Thanks for letting me know. Time to update my bookmarks.

Wendy

azgirl71 · Feb 5, 2008

I do not have anything in writing. When I am asked about OHS I tell people to think of it this way....

There is only a thin pad on the shield, the harness is not tight like a 5 point and you slam on your breaks. It would be like slamming your child's body or face into the dashboard. You would not like to be slammed into a dashboard, so why put your child in a situtaion that thay might have to find out what it is like.

Most people seem to understand when I describe it in that aspect.

ThreeBeans · Feb 5, 2008

The force transferred to the child is divided by the number of harness points.

In a five point harness, the force is divided five ways. In a three pont harness, it's only divided three ways.

The child in a three point harness is experiencing significantly MORE force in a smaller amount of surface area than a child in a five point.

Holly · Feb 5, 2008

Thanks guys!
I found another link too!

http://babyproducts.about.com/od/carseats/a/overheadshields.htm

skaterbabs · Feb 5, 2008

Just ask her if she'd be willing to removed the bar and hit her child over the head with it as hard as she could. Since the answer is obviously no, remind her that in a crash that is exactly what will happen.

TerisBoys · Feb 5, 2008

Derailling a bit -

It's wierd that this topic came up today...I was just thinking about Marissa yesterday(anyone from PP remember her story?).

For anyone that doesn't - Clif Notes version - Marissa is a little girl who was killed when the car she was riding in was sideswiped from behind - her door took the brunt of the impact. Her mother believes that her overhead shield carseat is what killed her - massive head trauma when her head hit the shield or vice versa.

Her story is what prompted me to get rid of my OHS Trooper that Josh was using.

ANYWAY - the wierd/eerie bit. Marissa's birthday is 2/14 - she'd have turned 13 this year.

Need link for why OHS seats are dangerous!

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