So what lit your internal car seat fire?

[happiness-and-balance]

I stumbled onto this site, and the blog, when I began looking to replace both of my boys' carseats. I have learned alot here and have become a tad obsessed! My 4yr old is now happily riding in a FR85, and my youngest has tried out 6 seats so far but isn't officially in a new one yet. I think I may go through withdrawal once I've purchased a seat for him and I no longer have a need to research seats and play with them!

This is why all of us are here... we'll convince you that you need a stockpile of seats

Kayden - 2.5 RF BLVD 65 & RF Truefit Layla- 6 FF BLVD 65 CS & HBTB

 

[Kac]

I had infant carriers for my dolls too.

A high school friend died in a crash in late 2008. I immediately thought of how I was driving the kids I babysat and began looking into it. I came across CSO and lurked for a long time and then joined.

I got certified as a tech two years (almost to the day) of my friend's death.

 

[ks227]

I'm a mechanical engineer with a professional interest in mechanics and materials science (I actually have my master's in materials engineering and metallurgy) and I'm involved in safety code testing and compliance in a different industry. I've always been pretty intrigued by ergonomics and biomechanics. I'm well aware of the forces that can be encountered in even a slow speed crash and that young children are at particular risk due less-developed musculoskeletal systems.

A friend and coworker of mine was killed instantly in a car accident which his wife survived almost uninjured (they had no children), and around the same time I found out that somehow SIL and BIL had misused their Keyfit for the first several months of our nephew's life. I came to the conclusion that when DH and I had children I would do everything in my power to keep them safe in the car - that even if we were in a hideous accident and I died, my kid(s) would have a chance. I know it sounds morbid, but that's how I felt.

Then once we had our daughter I saw so much misuse - I still see it. I was at the YMCA last week and parked next to brand new BMW with an ancient, weathered-looking shield booster in the back seat! The children in DD's daycare classroom range from 15-22 months and only three are still rear facing, including her, and at daycare pickup I've seen 2 year olds being buckled into HBBs. Last summer I went to a car seat check and was told by the CPST that my Boulevard was the first correctly-installed and -used seat they'd seen all day. It's scary.

I've found that people IRL tend to respect my opinions on car seat use a bit more because of what I do for a living. I want to be able to educate parents and to help my friends, family, and parents at daycare to have their kids riding more safely. I would like to take the CPST course but just need to find one that works with my schedule. I also think all of the cops and firefighters might think I'm some sort of nut.

 

[mom2juliarose]

We bought the cheapest Snugride on the market when I had DD because it was all I could afford. When she hated it (and we did, too) I started researching convertible seats on iVillage. Everyone told me I had to get a Britax but we couldn't afford one. We got a large gift for DD for Christmas and spent it on a Roundabout. When she was 10 months old and RFing in the RA, we were hit in a parking lot. I was stopped and the other car was backing out and hit my passenger doors. It was such a low-impact and yet did a lot of damage to my car. It was then that I really started getting more interested in car seats (we "upgraded" her RA to an MA at that point).

 

[Boot]

For me it was when I was researching a convertible for my son in 2007. He was a tall baby and I needed a long lasting harness because we only had lap belts. I ended up with a Radian. Then I had a question about the rear facing height limit of the Radian and came here with that question. I did a lot of research to feel comfortable going 'against the manual' in that case. It's just taken off from there. One of my friends had her first 18 months after my first and a group of friends bought her a car seat without consulting her (3-in-1 of course). She was fine with it but I remember thinking, even then, that there is NO WAY I would let anyone else make that decision for me! Now I am known as the car seat guru among my friends although I am by no means an expert. Still, it's all relative.

 

[erind]

I had a friend who had their 4 year old in just a seatbelt and their 2 year old in a backless booster. I was able to convince her that the baby needed a harnessed seat and the 4 year old could use the booster. I was always good about having tight installs and snug harnesses. I used to always install seats with locking clips though even though i didn't know then they had to be close the the latchplate. When my son was born I still bought an infant seat based on what cover I liked. I had a rear adjust snug ride. I didn't really get into carseats until my son was about 6 months old and I was looking for convertibles. It was then I first heard about ERF and started doing more research.

 

[Kobain's Mommy]

I've always been interested in car seats. As a child my dolls had toy car seats that my dad would modify so I could buckle them in. I never "grew out of" the doll stage and collect them. I would take my dolls out from time to time and they always rode in a car seat. Granted those were typically used seats I picked up at second hand stores. Looking back at pictures of the dolls in the seats the only violation I see in those are sometimes aftermarket products or harness to high.

My cousin had 3 boys and when I had them the rule in my car was they must be in the proper car seat. So once again I got a used (not knowing better) EB FFing only seat off eBay that they would have to use, I typically only had one at a time. Then my friend adopted a 3 year old so I decided it was time to get a seat that matched my car's seats. So I bought a CarGo.

I knew car seats were really important so when DH and I started TTC I was looking at diffrent infant seats and found the Graco SS1. I knew I wanted one of them. I lucked out and found a brand new one at TRU, it was a BRU only pattern that was returned. The store had it marked $80 and a sale of 50% off all clearance so I got it for $40.

When I was pregnant with DS I started visiting a car seat section of a parenting board I was on. I knew there was more out there than what was on there. Some kept saying something about cs.o. I searched what that meant and found this place.