Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2003 09:15:38 GMT From: "someguy" <someguynopsamwhere.se> Subject: Re: 9-5 Passenger Airbag - how to disable?
"CPS Darren" <darrennopsammail.com> wrote in news:4e157271.0304141655.23ec0ca9nopsaming.google.com... > "someguy" <someguynopsamhere.se> wrote in message news:<E7Jla.5700$Du.19471nopsamc.telia.net>... > > - The available volume is often larger in the front, which means that the child > > can sit facing the rear much longer. Scientists recommend to have children in > > reverse mounted child seats up to the age of 4 or 5. > > This is true for rear-facing seats in Sweden, where front seat > placement is more common when there is no frontal airbag. Child > restraints in Sweden are not the same as those in the USA; they have > different features and higher weight limits to optimize them for > extended rear-facing. > > In the USA, we also recommend extended rear-facing, though most seats > have weight and height limits that will prevent this above 2-3 years > old. Also see: http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html . Fatality > rates for young children are extremely low in Sweden compared to the > USA in large part due to keeping kids rear-facing much longer. In the > USA, many parents mistakenly believe it is safe to turn their kids at > 1 year and/or 20 pounds. > A very good site this one and I think it summarises quite a lot of the discussion here. Due to the differences in basic regulations and general recomendations USA and Sweden has ended up with different solutions to the problem of child seating: Sweden: Public recommendation to keep children rear-facing as long as possible Late introduction of passenger side airbags No bureaucracy and low cost to have a passenger side airbag disconnected Thus: Child seats for reverse mounting are made larger and can be mounted in the front seat where there is more room for the legs. Result: Very low fatality rate for children in car accidents US: Passenger side airbags more common Airbag disconnection procedures are complicated (individual NHTSA authorization needed) Federal recommendations of rear-facing only up to one year, recommendation for rear seat mounting and new regulations for tethers. Thus: Child seat manufacturers have low limit on reverse-seated childs (20 or maybe 30 pounds) Result: ? There is also a difference in the way child seats are fastened to the car. When mounted in the rear seat the requirements for additional mounting support provided by the car are higher (e.g. the US LATCH system) while mounting in the front seat is simpler because the dashboard provides a very good support, you only need to tighten the child seat down to the passenger seat by the ordinary car safety belt plus a belt originating from the back of the child seat. Thus for older cars without dedicated child seat support (as was the case for almost all cars in the 80:ies and 90:ies) front seat mounting is simple but safe provided of course that you dont have an active airbag!! Consequenly, from my non-US perspective it seems that NHTSA need to change their recommendations to be more in line with modern research results and they also need to simplify the procedure for the ordinary car owner to disconnect the passenger side airbag. Maybe the latter problem will be solved by the general technical development that should go in the direction of automatically disconnecting the passenger airbag when a child seat is installed, this is at least what seems to be the goal in Europe. -- someguy
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