Which is safer in pickup front seat?

fyrfightermomma · Sep 17, 2008

My SIL and BIL's van broke down and is in the shop for atleast a week. All they have is an old crummy Chevy pickup with no back seat. It has no head rests and the back window is right up against the seats (so in an accident, those occupants will be striking the window....that sounds pleasant)

Their child is 18 months, 26 pounds and probably 31 inches. A little shorter than my DD. She is still rear facing in their van.

They will be driving her around. I asked if they could rent a car and they said no.

So my question is...in those cars, what happens when a rear facing seat rebounds? Would the child rebound up and strike the window?

Which is safer? Having her still rear facing in the front seat (there is no air bag) or forward facing in the front seat. The seat will be checked by me and they do harness properly and tightly

The whole window in front of the face thing makes me nervous! She is in a seat that does not tether RFing.

Thanks

crunchierthanthou · Sep 17, 2008

it's definitely not an ideal situation, but rf is pretty much always safer. The rebound is secondary and the force is not nearly as great as the initial impact. It's better to have the seat behind her to absorb the initial energy.

Do you have a spare seat with a rf tether they can use until they have their van back?

fyrfightermomma · Sep 17, 2008

crunchierthanthou said:
it's definitely not an ideal situation, but rf is pretty much always safer. The rebound is secondary and the force is not nearly as great as the initial impact. It's better to have the seat behind her to absorb the initial energy.

Do you have a spare seat with a rf tether they can use until they have their van back?

Yeah, I have a 3 MA's. I could give them one to borrow. Where would I tether to? I haven't seen the inside at all but can't imagine where under the dash you could tether. All she knows is that it is a 1990 Chevy pick up. I have no clue what seatbelts it even has. I'm going up there tomorrow(about an hour away)

crunchierthanthou · Sep 17, 2008

I'm willing to bet that it's a lap-only belt in the middle. You'll probably want to try her there first because you don't want to put an adult there. Be sure to brush up on BSCs and take one with you just in case it's an ELR or you can't get a good install in the middle. There's a chance that a GM truck of that era has a sewn on latchplate for the outboard position. the lap retractor may lock, but you don't want to be scrambling for a BSC if it doesn't. It's iffy that there will be anything to wrap the d-ring around but there was a poster here who had to put her dd in the middle of an older truck and she was able to find a metal bar under the dash down by the footwell.

good luck! they're fortunate that you're willing to drive an hour to help them out.

skaterbabs · Sep 17, 2008

The concern about rebounding into the glass is more theoretical than anything else; we don't have much (any) injury data showing it to be a concern.

Adventuredad · Sep 17, 2008

Rear facing a child in the front seat is as safe as rear facing in the rear seat so don't feel bad about that. Of course with airbag disabled. Front seat installs of rf seats, from infant to 5 year old, are very common over here in Sweden and often recommended by safety organizations and manufacturers such as Volvo.

A young child rfing is safer from a pure crash test perspective in the rear but the front seat offers several other factors which improve safety and make it equal to rear seat. For people that have two kids or more here, front seat rf installs here are a very high percentage.

I know front seat installs over there have a bad rep but they are a god idea as long as the kids are young and rear facing.

beeman · Sep 17, 2008

IIRC, GM trucks of this era have just a lapbelt with locking latch plate in the center, and outboard both the shoulder belt and lapbelt have their own retractors, with the lapbelt having a locking retractor. There won't be airbags on either side, so definitely try a center install first :twocents: .

fyrfightermomma · Sep 17, 2008

Thanks guys!

skaterbabs · Sep 17, 2008

Please remember that crash and injury statistics in the US have proven this information incorrect.

Adventuredad said:
Rear facing a child in the front seat is as safe as rear facing in the rear seat so don't feel bad about that. Of course with airbag disabled. Front seat installs of rf seats, from infant to 5 year old, are very common over here in Sweden and often recommended by safety organizations and manufacturers such as Volvo.

A young child rfing is safer from a pure crash test perspective in the rear but the front seat offers several other factors which improve safety and make it equal to rear seat. For people that have two kids or more here, front seat rf installs here are a very high percentage.

I know front seat installs over there have a bad rep but they are a god idea as long as the kids are young and rear facing.

fyrfightermomma · Sep 17, 2008

Adventuredad said:
Rear facing a child in the front seat is as safe as rear facing in the rear seat so don't feel bad about that. Of course with airbag disabled. Front seat installs of rf seats, from infant to 5 year old, are very common over here in Sweden and often recommended by safety organizations and manufacturers such as Volvo.

A young child rfing is safer from a pure crash test perspective in the rear but the front seat offers several other factors which improve safety and make it equal to rear seat. For people that have two kids or more here, front seat rf installs here are a very high percentage.

I know front seat installs over there have a bad rep but they are a god idea as long as the kids are young and rear facing.

It's not so much the front seat I'm worried about. I've transported kids in the front seat before if I have to. I'm more worried about the big glass window they will smack when the seat rebounds

In a normal front seat the seat rebounds and you have a headrest or nothing but space. In a pickup wiht no back seat or headrests, you have a giant window.

skaterbabs · Sep 18, 2008

This is really more of a theoretical danger than a real one. We're not seeing injuries from this situation. There are enough children rear facing in trucks that there would be data showing it to be a concern if it in fact were one.

fyrfightermomma said:
It's not so much the front seat I'm worried about. I've transported kids in the front seat before if I have to. I'm more worried about the big glass window they will smack when the seat rebounds

In a normal front seat the seat rebounds and you have a headrest or nothing but space. In a pickup wiht no back seat or headrests, you have a giant window.

fyrfightermomma · Sep 18, 2008

Well I just got back. That was.....interesting to say the least. The outboard position like everyone said had separate retractors. So I did a center lap belt install. I've never installed my MA's with a seatbelt (isn't that pathetic) so it took a lot of fanageling and reading the manual (under the bar, over the bar, blah blah blah) but we got it in. I couldn't find a tether spot but that's Ok. It's just a week.

Which is safer in pickup front seat?

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