First day of class - comments and question

So, I had my first day of class, and I was pleased with the information and tone of the class. I was proud of myself for what I already knew (which was most of it, thanks to this board!), and actually kind of surprised! I guess I don't give myself enough credit. As expected, I was the only one there in the group of 18 that was there because I wanted to be!

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, because we get to talk about rear and forward facing restraints and guidelines, and I feeling really confident about those things. :thumbsup:

For the quiz, I missed two questions out of 10 - even though it was open notes - oops! The two I missed I thought I knew, so I didn't think to confirm my answers. The ones I was unsure of I looked up just to be sure.

The questions I missed were about who "learns, practices, and educates" (I picked tech, it was supposed to be "all of the above") and "T/F NHTSA tests all restraints before they go on the market." I didn't read that question carefully, because I read it as, "True, all restraints are tested and safe." I wasn't thinking about WHO was doing the testing.

What is it with me and tests? I failed my learner's permit test and I barely passed the written test for the driver's license, but it doesn't mean I'm a bad driver! I think I'm a pretty good one!

Finally to my question - It's about air bags. The overview discussion about air bags made it seem like it wasn't the safest option to put a restraint next to a side airbag. I guess I thought the opposite was true - it offered added protection for children, especially ones in seats without SIP.

Sounds like a great first day!! Use your book if you need to. The queations can be worded to confuse you, so pay close attention.

Yeah, I guess I'll be double checking for all questions now!

RJB78 said:

Yeah, I guess I'll be double checking for all questions now!

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I was the only person in my class because I wanted to as well. I was aslo the only one to past my hands on stuff on the 1st try. You will do great!

You have to really read the questions well. There are a few that were on the recertification exam a few years ago that I refused to answer because either all of the answers were correct or something I'd do or because I didn't feel any option was the "best" option.

The only one I can vaguely remember (this was three years ago) was around either an expired seat, a recalled seat that could not be repaired, or something like that. It read something to the effect of, "If a parent came to a clinic and needed his/her (expired/recalled/etc.) seat installed, what would you do?"

a. Refuse to install the seat for liability reasons
b. Explain to the parent that the seat is unsafe due to...
c. Replace the seat
d. Instruct the parent to destroy the seat

Well, at the clinics I do, we are not allowed to install seats that are expired/recalled/etc. because it opens up the organization to liability. I would also absolutely explain to the parent what was wrong with the seat, how to check for recalls, when seats expire, etc. We would also replace the seat with a new one and destroy the old one. So, based on my training, all the answers were correct.

RJB78 said:

Finally to my question - It's about air bags. The overview discussion about air bags made it seem like it wasn't the safest option to put a restraint next to a side airbag. I guess I thought the opposite was true - it offered added protection for children, especially ones in seats without SIP.

Click to expand...

Side airbags are different than side-curtain airbags. Side-curtain airbags deploy down, which will not impact a correctly installed carseat, but there are other types of side-airbags that deploy inward and might be a risk if a carseat were installed there. It's not very common to have those types of side airbags in the backseats, though, so you probably won't see it very often, if at all.