Cargo van passenger seat safety specs?

[bigmule]

Hi forum,
New here.

Question for the specialists.

Is a front facing child seat for a 30#er ok in a sprinter vans front seat?

Note, the van is four feet off the ground to the bottom of the child seat.
The airbag warning sticker ONLY indicates no rear ward facing seats.

This is the ONLY configuration allowable.

Thank you.

 

[wendytthomas]

Welcome.

Just to clear up some things. There are two seats total in this van, then a barrier of some sort, then cargo space in the back? So it's either the passenger seat or basically strap the child to the roof? If there's no barrier, what's being carried in the back? Is it a projectile risk?

How old is the child? A 30 pound 18 month old has a very different answer than a 30 pound four year old.

Wendy

 

[bigmule]

Re: Sprinter 2500 hc Cargo van passenger seat safety specs?

Yes, a twin seater.
Bucket type, three point harness.
Child is about to turn 3.
The sprinter van is an 8500 lb vehicle. With a steel bulk head at rear of seat backs. Has an air bag on the passenger side.
Distance to child's head from face of dashboard is 34".
Child is at a 30d angle from level. ( still in the "ok" zone on the britax).
Typical trips, ~2 miles to play group in an urban setting.
Average mph is 25.

Who may have the official information on this. MB site has ziltch, FD is of no help, the PD has no info either.

I feel the sheer height of the vehicle combined with the weight is a indicator that it would suffer an impact just fine, hence the occupants are safe.
The question remains about the air bag however, due to the unknown manner in which it would inflate. Meaning, what angle? Due to the angle of the child, I'm under the impression that little harm would result in an emergency inflation from the air bag itself. It would press the child into the seat further, like a play dough factory mould....

Your thoughts....and any leads to the "official word" would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[wendytthomas]

A forward facing nearly three year old is ok in that van in that seat. The recline angle only matters rear facing. Forward facing it doesn't. Put the van's seat as far back as you can from the airbag.

The worry about the airbag is not the soft airbag itself, but rather the speed and explosion at which it comes out. Rear facing it can destroy a carseat. http://www.car-seat.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=1309&d=1202744739 [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5U91iz_yfY"]Infant Seat - YouTube[/ame] Forward facing, you want a child's immature face and body away from the airbag so the explosion doesn't injure the child. The same reason at 5'1" I'm very happy to be out of my 2001 Xterra (where I had to sit as close as possible to the wheel in order to reach the clutch) and into a 2012 Mazda 5 where I can sit further back and have advanced airbags to know where I'm sitting. My airbag now will not injure me.

So it's not so much at all the angle of the carseat. You want it in one of the two upright positions if it's a new generation Britax, or in the upright position if it's a classic Britax. However, you simply want the child as far away from the airbag as possible.

Is there a key switch to turn the airbag off? If you could do that, rear facing the child in the Britax with the airbag keyed off would be the safest thing to do.

Wendy

 

[bigmule]

Thank you for your input Wendy.

The set up is at its best as it was outlined.
The airbag/face dimension is at its greatsest.
It is a work truck after all and at the moment does double duty.

My concerns are at ease.

Cheers

Jason