FF child with feet on seat in front of them

kater-tot82

New member
Title basically says topic, my question is, is this safe?? My DD has a Regent and a Nautilus and rides outboard driver's side (well, in the van it is driver's side captain's chair) and now has long enough legs to put them up on the seat in front of her (her toes are up near the headrest). My sister is a mechanical engineer and mentioned something about someone she knew in vehicle testing saying you should never have your feet up high in a car (ie, on the seat back in front of you, or on the dashboard if you're the passenger) because it could cause serious injuries in a crash.
Has anyone heard of anything like this? Especially in children?
BTW, we haven't been having DD put her feet up, we make her sit criss-cross if she doesn't want her legs to dangle.
 
Last edited:
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mommycat

Well-known member
I'm rusty/uneducated on this, but my guess would be the major issues are:
a) most people with their feet up are also slumped down/reclined (in danger of submarining and with a loosened belt) and in the front seat with a dash and/or airbag to worry about

b) I suppose it could add some loads to your spine and extra compression to internal organs if you already have a curve in your spine and are bent up even before the crash makes your body tend to jacknife

c) legs closer to your face could probably make for some nice hard surfaces for your face and head to hit

My guess would be that a child in a harnessed seat is somewhat at less risk from these factors, but would tend to agree that it "feels" safer to imagine a passenger sitting with the lower limbs out of the way and a straight spine. My 2 cents worth after engineering school, like I said, totally from imagining it in my head and not scientific.

I will try to google this as well.
 

kater-tot82

New member
Katy- (we have the same name spelled the same! I don't see that much!)
Thank you for the link to your post. I did a search but for some reason it didn't come up.
DH hates having DD's feet on the seat back so we'll probably discourage it (she usually ends up kicking the back of his seat)...I just didn't want her to be in danger on the occasions she does do it.
 

mommycat

Well-known member
Thanks for the link, Julie. I guess they don't really focus on these injuries much because they tend not to be life threatening. :shrug:
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Thanks for the link, Julie. I guess they don't really focus on these injuries much because they tend not to be life threatening. :shrug:
You're probably right. Definitely something they need to address sooner rather than later (they are doing a lot to improve leg safety in front seats, at least), but it's not a *huge* deal.

You definitely don't want to put your feet on the dashboard, an airbag would be a lot more injurious than just a seatback!

:)
 

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