True Side Impact vs Side Impact Protection

sholoulou

New member
I love Britax Carseats. I notice that all of the new ones have true side impact protection. I have a marathon and a regent. I wonder if I should get the carseats that have true side impact protection. They must know something about them being safer or they wouldn't make all the new carseats with them. YES! I am stressing about just what would be the safest carseat for my kids :eek:
 
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An Aurora

Senior Community Member
"True side impact protection" is just a term Britax made up for the head wings on their seats. Other seats have similar wings, and while intuitively they seem safer we really don't know how much (if any) difference they make. I wouldn't feel "unsafe" using a seat without "TSIP" since every 5-pt harness seat has great SIP, especially those with deep shells and EPS foam.
 

sholoulou

New member
My son is right up against the door in his Regent.. I am wonder if he would be safer in a frontier? I like the look of those wings lol

I was going to move my dd in the Regent when she is 3 1/2 but looking at Britax website they have SO many seats with true side impact protection...

What would you do??
 

An Aurora

Senior Community Member
My DD is in a Regent as well, in an outboard seat right up against the side of my van. I don't worry about it since the Regent has pretty deep sides and her head is encased by the sides. I wouldn't get rid of a perfectly safe seat to get a Frontier, but if you feel safer with a Frontier and you can afford one by all means get one.
 

sholoulou

New member
Well it is not like I can run out and get the Frontier lol I really like the regent and think he will be more comfortable in it. I ordered the Regent online so I had nothing to compare the Frontier to until I got the Regent. Looks like I will have to go and put the frontier in my car again and have my son sit in both :rolleyes:

I was planning on moving my daughter into the Regent when she is 3 1/2 but I like the Boulevard too hmmm looks like I will become a carseat junkie :eek:
 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
You should get the seats that fit your kids and your car. All 5-point harnesses offer significant side impact protection. We don't know if "true" side impact protection or "real" side impact protection or any other marketing term means because there are no standards.
 

monstah

New member
I had a Boulevard for my DD because I was very concerned with side impact protection. After loads of research, I feel she is every bit as safe in a Marathon. (For example.)

There is no standard for side impact protection. I wish I could find you the picture someone posted here of a no back booster that claimed "side impact protection." :rolleyes:
 

Maedze

New member
There is no standard for side impact protection. I wish I could find you the picture someone posted here of a no back booster that claimed "side impact protection." :rolleyes:

That's the Harmony backless. Those kids' thighs will be very safe, goshdarnit! :ROTFLMAO:
 

southpawboston

New member
while there is no standard for side impact protection, there *IS* a big difference in how well certain seats protect during a side impact, especially among boosters. as said above, a 5-pt harness does a great job at restricting sideways movement, but some of the videos out there of boosters with and without wings made me a believer in big, fat SIP wings. standard or no standard, i will only have seats with SIP wings for my girls.
 

Maedze

New member
while there is no standard for side impact protection, there *IS* a big difference in how well certain seats protect during a side impact, especially among boosters. as said above, a 5-pt harness does a great job at restricting sideways movement, but some of the videos out there of boosters with and without wings made me a believer in big, fat SIP wings. standard or no standard, i will only have seats with SIP wings for my girls.

Trouble is, back to the no-regulation thingie. I don't think that the newest Boulevard (where the wings are essentially flush with the side of the seat) is any safer in a side impact than the, say, True Fit, with its nice deep shell.

Now..my Wizard...that had some SIP going on!
 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
Yes, some seats do protect better; however, the labels that carseat manufacturers choose to attach aren't really a fair measure. I remember my all-time favorite seat, the Fisher-Price Safe Embrace -- no wings, but that shell was *deep*.
 

monstah

New member
Would I replace a 3 year old Marathon with a new Marathon that has a patch sewn on it? No chance.

If I could replace my DS's Radian with a Signo or Frontier, would I? Maybe. Probably not though.
 

NannyMom

Well-known member
My daughter has a Marathon, and a Boulevard, and a Titan, and an Triumph Advance. Do you know which is her primary seat? The Titan :) It had no wings. And it's even the least expensive of the 4. But I think it gives her the most leg room :)

The Boulevard is in grandpa's car, which she's in about once/week. I only bought it because I got a huge (huge) discount. The head wings aren't right up against the head, so the head will still move in a side impact crash. I think the harness on and 5 point seat does a great job of protecting her.

Boosters I think are different. There is no harness to contain the child, just the seatbelt. So I go for big wings for boosters (We have the Vivo).

The Regent has a 5 point harness, and is very wide. Those 2 things will provide alot or side impact protection.

Though if you want new carseats, I won't stop you. I have 9 for 1 child :whistle:
 

southpawboston

New member
Trouble is, back to the no-regulation thingie. I don't think that the newest Boulevard (where the wings are essentially flush with the side of the seat) is any safer in a side impact than the, say, True Fit, with its nice deep shell.

Now..my Wizard...that had some SIP going on!

it doesn't take wings to make SIP. a deep shell can be considered SIP as well, as long as it contains the head in a side impact. the como doesn't have wings, but it has a shell at least as deep as the TF's, and it is marketed as SIP.

sure, there's lack of regulation, and carseat mfrs can market anything as SIP if they want... that doesn't mean that a seat marketed with SIP won't perform better than another. and personally, if reputable carseat mfrs who do their own R&D and have decades of experience in designing seats for airplanes and race cars (like britax and recaro, respectively) market their seats as SIP, i believe it far more than other companies who make similar claims.

i think a lot has to do with logically looking at the seat and reasoning that it can contain a head in a side impact (as you did with the TF). those videos of EU boosters in side impact tests are pretty convincing, and the ones that did the best job looked like they would just from looking at them standing still.

there's also lack of regulation concerning RF tethering, but there's a camp of CPS-aware folks that believe in it and will use only seats that are capable of that... it's fine to have a personal preference based on logic and instinct but lacking in publicly available data or regulation. do i *know* my DDs are safer in a side impact than if they were in radian 65's? no, i don't. but i have a personal belief and when we are faced with infinite choices but limited data, we have to rely on a personal belief to guide our decisions.
 

Maedze

New member
I agree with you in the sense that I prefer my children to be in either deep-shelled or deep-winged seats when at all possible.


I just caution parents, as you noted, that they should make these evaluations visually and not just go on what the manufacturer puts on the box. (Consider the backless Harmony marketed as having SIP!)
 

cookie123

New member
I would rather my grandkids hit their heads on some super cushioned wings than the car window or door in a side impact collision. That I know for sure.

I'm not convinced kids actually keep their heads in them when they're riding in the car. I don't lay my head back against the seat when I'm riding, and I've noticed the few times that H & B have been in the TB, they don't either. I never noticed when they were riding in the Radians, which was about once for Hannah and Brett a few times. I don't know how they do in their own car, I rarely ride with them.

I think everyone should pay attention to this and then post something. I'd like to know if this is a fluke, or normal behavior.
 

NannyMom

Well-known member
I would rather my grandkids hit their heads on some super cushioned wings than the car window or door in a side impact collision. That I know for sure.

I'm not convinced kids actually keep their heads in them when they're riding in the car. I don't lay my head back against the seat when I'm riding, and I've noticed the few times that H & B have been in the TB, they don't either. I never noticed when they were riding in the Radians, which was about once for Hannah and Brett a few times. I don't know how they do in their own car, I rarely ride with them.

I think everyone should pay attention to this and then post something. I'd like to know if this is a fluke, or normal behavior.

It depends on the child and the seat. A never liked to keep her head in the Parkway wings when I had that in my car. But the Vivo wings are more open, and she does better with that. Sofi tends to lean her head forward, even in a seat w/o wings. But she's RF.
 

southpawboston

New member
there was a recent thread on this-- some kids push their heads out of the headwings, while others keep their heads in them. it varies from child to child, and also from seat to seat. our DD1 never pushed her head out of her RYS headwings, while she occasionally does push her head out of the signo's wings. i think it might have to do with recline angle as well.
 

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