Top 10 witnessed misuse this week...

mamabear

New member
10. Girl (about 4) in HBB without seatbelt threaded through belt guide, seatblet sliding off her shoulder.

9. girl (about 5) in HBB with shoulder portion of seatbelt behind her arm, laying
across her stomach while driving on the freeway

8. Way expired old funky Fisher Price seat ( probably circa 1990's) in nanny's car picking
up one of DD's classmates (no one in it at the time, hopefully not for the girl
she was picking up as she's likely outgrown it too)

7. Two Britax seats installed in a minivan of another mom I know from DD's school.
Both are installed FF in recline mode on top of over reclined captain's chair
seats in the minivan. Both kids are over 3 yrs old and approx 40 lbs. The
carseats are probably at a 45 degree angles FF!

6. Carseat for a girl, approx age 3, installed in the front seat. Grandma riding in
the backseat.


5. A boy riding in a carseat that was so small for him height wise that his WHOLE HEAD was above the
shell!

4. I walked by a carseat in Target parking lot that was installed in a car so loosely that it was halfway tipped over.

3. Walking DD home from school I walked by a car with a carseat that was installed FF with the base completely on
top of a folded blanket that was about 3-4" thick.

2. In two different parking lots this week I've seen parents of preschool age children just plop their kids in the
backseat with no carseat, booster, or even seatbelt, and drive away....

1. Today I saw a small sedan driving by with 4 adults and one child. The child, about 2yrs old, was sitting in the
middle of the backseat in an infant bucket, no harness, forward facing with the lap belt across him.

WHAT ARE PEOPLE THINKING?
 
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jlginsb

New member
I saw one the other day where I was following a car where you could physically see the car seat tipping side to side when she turned or changed lanes. And yes, a child was in the seat. It appeared to be a convertible FF with an approximately 2 year old girl in it. Didn't appear to be over weight limits (hard to tell since I don't know what seat), but just really bad install. I was so upset I wanted to follow her home and give her some carseat information and brochures (I didn't of course--I wrote license plate down, though).

Another friend of mine let her 26 lb DD ride in a Graco Snugride at 9 mos because her older sister had been able to use it that long so why not the younger child too. Who cares that she was over the limits on it and occassionally tipped the seat over while installed because she was too big for seat. Our moms group finally convinced her to go to a carseat check where the tech gave her a convertible to use and advised her to pay attention to manufacturer manuals which show proper useage.

I agree with PP, people aren't thinking. And they don't do enough to educate themselves. The information is out there--go out and find it!
 
U

Unregistered1

Guest
I gasped out loud the other day when I was driving home from school and saw a car getting on the freeway with two adults in the front seat, an empty car seat and a man in the back seat, HOLDING A BABY ON HIS LAP! Not only was the baby NOT in the car seat but the car seat was a FF cargo and the baby looked to be about 9 months old! Ugh, and they were getting on the freeway. If Ohio gave a damn about car seats, I'd have called it in.
 

wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Sheesh. Some people surprise me.

I have to say, though, on the seats installed in the front seat, in the past month I've installed seats in my front seat twice. However, neither time did anyone ride in it. The first time I was taking a bunch of boxes to Goodwill and I filled up my trunk and backseat, but I needed to pick Piper up on my way back, so I needed to put her seat somewhere. I installed it in the front seat.

Then last week Piper and her class went on a field trip. I rented a minivan and put in two Wizards, two Radians, and a Parkway. After the field trip I returned the minivan to the airport, but now I had five carseats I needed to get home in my five seater. I installed Piper's Wizard where it goes, I put the other Wizard mostly installed behind me (looser than normal, no tether), the Radians in the trunk, and the Parkway in the passenger seat buckled in. The Parkway actually didn't come out at my house, I gave it to the dad of one of Piper's classmates since he was going to take Piper home with them the next day.

So certainly I would never condone a child riding in the front seat, short of a real, true emergency, I'd be wary of judging if the seat isn't in use.

I also saw a nice, new Lexus the other day with two 3 in 1s and a Summit in the back. I was impressed with the three across, but we've mentioned a lot here about the nice car and the cheap seats. Turns out it was grandma and grandpa picking up the grandkids at school. So they were secondary seats, even though they were in a nice car. All three seats were tethered, and grandma and grandpa spent a lot of time getting the kids buckled (so much time that I had to sit in my car and wait since her door was open behind me. It took her a solid three minutes. I nearly got out and did it myself).

Wendy
 

mamabear

New member
So certainly I would never condone a child riding in the front seat, short of a real, true emergency, I'd be wary of judging if the seat isn't in use.



Wendy

Yes this is true, but the girl was in the seat, and only an older adult was in the backseat, with the middle and outboard drivers side unoccupied!
I'm not sure what arrangement was going on there............
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
I've seen four unrestrained children in the front seat this past week. One was riding on mom's lap, the other three were just bouncing around in the front.

Oh, and apparently the latest trend around here is to just remove the cover from the carseat. It just gets dirty, right? Without the cover they can just hose it off, I guess?
 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
Yes this is true, but the girl was in the seat, and only an older adult was in the backseat, with the middle and outboard drivers side unoccupied!
I'm not sure what arrangement was going on there............

My only possible positive thought was that MAYBE..just maybe..if the child was in a booster and the back seat only had lap belts, perhaps the seat was in the front so the child could have a lap/shoulder belt? now, 3 is of course too young to be in a booster at all, but maybe the mom was doing the best with what info she had?
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
Yesterday, road known for frequent bad crashes, 50 MPH.

Infant, by appearance approximately 3 months old (at most!), unrestrained in mom's lap in the back seat.


Car seat (infant carrier) in the seat next to her.

I'd have called the police but I couldn't tell what kind of car it was or the liscence number from where I was sitting. :mad::soapbox:
 

mamabear

New member
My only possible positive thought was that MAYBE..just maybe..if the child was in a booster and the back seat only had lap belts, perhaps the seat was in the front so the child could have a lap/shoulder belt? now, 3 is of course too young to be in a booster at all, but maybe the mom was doing the best with what info she had?

Yeah...too bad the car was a newer type of honda. Early 2000's I would guess...Plus it was a carseat she was sitting in, not a booster.

I couldn't get a positive thought out of this one. JUst a "what are they doing??"
 

Mommy2Marcus

New member
I see misuse ALL the time around here. I also see alot of completely unrestrained children in nothing that are WAY to young to be without at least a booster. I see children that could not be more than 3-4 in nothing but the seatbelt as well as small children in the front seat. I want to scream at these people.

I also am sad b/c my MIL is the worlds worse about missuse with my 4 y/o nephew. He is maybe 40 lbs & rides in a LBB with the shoulder belt tucked behind him b/c it bothers him. He also gets to ride in the front seat ALL the time in his booster. When he rides with me he HAS to wear his shoulder belt at least! The worst part about it is when he falls asleep & falls to the side.
 

Mama!

New member
10. Girl (about 4) in HBB without seatbelt threaded through belt guide, seatblet sliding off her shoulder.

9. girl (about 5) in HBB with shoulder portion of seatbelt behind her arm, laying
across her stomach while driving on the freeway

8. Way expired old funky Fisher Price seat ( probably circa 1990's) in nanny's car picking
up one of DD's classmates (no one in it at the time, hopefully not for the girl
she was picking up as she's likely outgrown it too)

7. Two Britax seats installed in a minivan of another mom I know from DD's school.
Both are installed FF in recline mode on top of over reclined captain's chair
seats in the minivan. Both kids are over 3 yrs old and approx 40 lbs. The
carseats are probably at a 45 degree angles FF!

6. Carseat for a girl, approx age 3, installed in the front seat. Grandma riding in
the backseat.


5. A boy riding in a carseat that was so small for him height wise that his WHOLE HEAD was above the
shell!

4. I walked by a carseat in Target parking lot that was installed in a car so loosely that it was halfway tipped over.

3. Walking DD home from school I walked by a car with a carseat that was installed FF with the base completely on
top of a folded blanket that was about 3-4" thick.

2. In two different parking lots this week I've seen parents of preschool age children just plop their kids in the
backseat with no carseat, booster, or even seatbelt, and drive away....

1. Today I saw a small sedan driving by with 4 adults and one child. The child, about 2yrs old, was sitting in the
middle of the backseat in an infant bucket, no harness, forward facing with the lap belt across him.

WHAT ARE PEOPLE THINKING?
Hey, when did you move to my town? :eek:
 

BudgieStew

New member
Hmm...besides the children too young legally (4\40) to be in boosters at my DS daycare.

Today I was waiting for DH to come out of the grocery store tonight and my attention was attracted by a woman who was wearing ummm not sure what she was wearing.

It was a one piece bathing suit type undergarment with a thin gold belt around the waist and over the bathing suit thing she was wearing a pair of sheer pants and a sheer shirt. It was totally umm different. It was like you had x ray eyes and could see through her outer clothes.:eek:

Anyway I was so distracted by her outfit that I am almost did not catch her putting an infant, well under a year and under 22 lb. in a FF seat. I was not close enough to see what seat but the baby was most defiantly FF.

I was disappointed to see that our friends had their 14 month olds Radian(that I recommended) FF but after thinking about it realized that he might have reached the 30LB RF limit already.
I was happy to peek into another friends van today and see that they had bought the Evenflo Triumph Advance for their 8 month old. Once again on my recommendation.
 

Shanora

Well-known member
I had an interesting one today......The child was in the back seat, middle, I'm guessing in a LBB. Mom leaned in to Unbuckle the child (who looked about 4-5ish), and once they got out....I noticed that right behind the child, was a tether strap, that was tethered to the anchor directly behind the seat.......:scratcheshead: I'm not sure how this would work.....or what the reasoning is behind it....but uh......:question::shrug-shoulders:

This vehicle was parked behind me, and I wasn't sure HOW to go around peeking inside, since I had already put Liam into his seat, and was just looking behind me......so I'm not entirely sure HOW it was rigged up....
 

HEVY

New member
Same old typical misuse here, infants with loose straps and belly clips. Infant seats in shopping carts. Little girl in a 3 in 1, strpas on arms and too big for it harnessed anyway. And the worse yet, an infant seat in one of those wooden restaurant highchairs where the baby was sitting upright like an adult.
 

Mommy2Marcus

New member
I witnessed another misuse today while in the parking lot of the grocery store. I had to take soomething to DH at work...he works at a grocery store..and took something to the car for him & noticed a FF Scenera in a car. Well on my way back into the store to give him the keys and notice a couple with a little boy...I was thinking 8-9 months old....getting ready to get into the car with the FF Scenera. I asked how old he was & the dad said 11 months. He was TINY! I told them about ERF & gave them the handout that I keep in the diaper bag. I told them that there are studies that show that it is safer to RF for as long as possible & to the limits of the seat. I hope they turned that little boy back around. He was SO little, maybe 20lbs, but I dout he was.

I SO hope I convenced them to turn him back. I was shocked that they could think it was safe to turn him FF. He probaly didn't even meet the weight requirement of the seat. I know he didn't meet the 34 inches tall requirement as Marcus is not even 34 inches yet at 19 months!
 

TN Mary

New member
I watched a mom get arrested for shopping while her baby was still in the car PLUS her 2.5 yr old daughter got loose and was running around in a BUSY STREET! :eek:

Well, I don't think they were going to arrest her for that, but when they ran her driver's license, they found out there was a warrant out for her arrest.

The 'dad' showed up to get the kids.... I helped bring them back to their vehicle.... he put the 5 mo old baby in the car seat with the chest clip over the baby's BELLY - and that was it!!! No crotch strap to be found! It was tucked underneath the fabric of the seat like it had never been used! She looked like she had a belt around her belly, the shoulder straps were underneath her back!

Then he put the 2.5 yr old in a booster seat with only a lap belt on.

I freaked out. I showed him how to properly belt in his baby and fixed the toddler's seatbelt on the booster. She was MUCH too small for the booster but what could I do? At least she was in something.

Meanwhile, these kids were in a nice SUV. I was just horrified - their mom's in jail, the baby gets a chest clip on her belly and the toddler gets a lap belt in a booster.
 

Rosey

New member
I think I saw 10 on one seat alone :) 10 yr ld baby bucket installed in the front seat with a lap/shoulder that did not lock and no seatbelt lock was used. When they put in the baby it was a 3 pt harness waaaay too loose and the chest clip down by the buckle. The baby actually got her arm loose. Then they installed it in the back center where the shoulder belt came from the ceiling and buckled independently from the lap belt. Relatives. I fixed it as best I could while I was there and they kind of laughed at me. I will buy a convertible for her first bday so they dont use the 10 yr old one they own for that too.
 

featherhead

Well-known member
I was buckling my dd into her seat at Old Navy, and I noticed in the car next to us there was a base for a infant seat (snugride I think). It was kinda sideways, so I figured it wasn't being used. A mother came out with her baby in the snugride, and an older boy as well. She clicked to seat onto the base, and then used the seatbelt over the car seat(like you would without the base). Then, when she was done and I was able to get out of the backseat of my car, I noticed she had one of the LATCH connectors connected to the top tether anchor for the middle seat!! That was definitely the weirdest misuse I've ever seen.
 

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