Question testing weight limits

[leebeeag]

out of curiosity...

are seats tested with higher weighted dummies ??

33lb seat with a 35lbs dummie
and
35lb seat with a what lbs dummie??

how does this work, i cant find any info on this can anyone help me..

 

[snowbird25ca]

The heaviest weight that rf'ing seats are tested with is with a dummy that once fully clothed and instrumented weighs 35lbs. The weight of the clothes, the temperature that the clothes are washed in, weight of shoes, basically every single little thing you can think of is addressed in test method 213.

With an older rf'ing child, I am *never* comfortable pushing the weight limits. If they're within a lb if you put them on the scale one day fully clothed, then they're too heavy IMO. I might do it for a single ride if there was a reason, but when debating between keeping rf'ing vs. turning ff'ing, that's the point where I'd be turning them ff'ing. The limits of the seat isn't pushing right to the very ounce in my opinion and some caution needs to be exercised in waiting until a kid weighs exactly 35lbs in a 35lb seat.

That being said - I wouldn't panic if all the sudden my kid went from 32.5 to 35.5lbs between weighing. I'd just turn the seat ff'ing right away. :thumbsup:

eta: The US is using Hybrid III AMD's now, and the 3yr old dummy weighs 35lbs once clothed and instrumented. Canada is still using Hybrid II AMD's for some of the testing, and I believe that dummy is 34lbs clothed and instrumented. My understanding is that companies have used weights before to test seats to higher limits, but I'm not 100% certain on that. (Just thinking about the My Ride and how they're certifying it to 40lbs.) It's also possible in the case of some seats, that if they just are at the 70* mark during testing with the 35lb dummy, that that's when manufacturers choose to use a 33lb limit (or 30lb limit in some cases.) It's also just as likely that the manufacturer wanted a margin for error and didn't rate the seat to 35lbs so that those who pushed the 30 or 33lb limits wouldn't experience failure... There's really no way to know what goes on inside a manufacturer unless there's an inside scoop from someone.

 

[theshapeshifter]

With an older rf'ing child, I am *never* comfortable pushing the weight limits. If they're within a lb if you put them on the scale one day fully clothed, then they're too heavy IMO. I might do it for a single ride if there was a reason, but when debating between keeping rf'ing vs. turning ff'ing, that's the point where I'd be turning them ff'ing.

Apologies for a bit of a post hijack here, but when you say "an older rfing child", is there a younger age at which you'd be more inclined to try and max it out as close to the limit as possible, versus turning when they get within a pound? Just curious, since I'm in exactly this position now with my 22-month-old - he's 34lbs fully dressed. I always said I'd turn him when I started seeing "34" on the scale, but his latest growth spurt kind of caught me by surprise, I had thought we wouldn't be seeing 34 till more like 26-27 months. Eek!

 

[leebeeag]

Here in Australia, Safe n Sound seats are tested to 20kgs even though it says in the manual it's max weight limit is 18kgs...not sure where i read this but was wondering if this happens to all seats when tested(worldwide)...

MY question is...
our ds2 4yr old (17.5kgs-38.5lbs) wants to ride rf even though he's over the manual stated weight limit by about 1.5kgs-3.5lbs to ride rf...i think he wants to be like his younger brother who is riding rf. he is at the third highest slot and his ears dont go over the top of the seat...he is in a Marathon at present..
we are having some behavior problems with him and were about to travel a few hours away for a holiday and would like to keep him as calm as possible..

what would you do..let him ride rf or keep him ff????

As were traveling in a small car so ill need slim seats so the regents are out

 

[Lea_Ontario]

MY question is...
our ds2 4yr old (17.5kgs-38.5lbs) wants to ride rf even though he's over the manual stated weight limit by about 1.5kgs-3.5lbs to ride rf...

No - he needs to not be RF if he is over the stated limit.

You don't want him to be the crash test dummy who finds out if the seat is fine or fails at that weight.