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Date: 14 Apr 2003 17:55:18 -0700
From: darrennopsammail.com (CPS Darren)
Subject: Re: 9-5 Passenger Airbag - how to disable?


"someguy" <someguynopsamhere.se> wrote in message news:<E7Jla.5700$Du.19471nopsamc.telia.net>... > - In the front the child seat has a strong support when leaning towards the > panel which supports the seat even during very hard front collisions. Modern > cars are designed to give acceptable collision decelleration for any objects > inside the passenger area and thus the child can take also a rather severe > collision. The flip-side of this is that the front seat has less distance to allow crushing and protection from intrusion than the rear seat. This may be more important in the USA with the proliferation of heavy, stiff frame trucks and SUVs. > If the child seat is mounted in the rear it is supported only by the > back of the front seat, which gives a much more unsafe support than the panel. > The situation can be improved by using a child seat stand that goes down to > the floor, but it is still inferior to the front seat mounting. Keep in mind that rear-facing restraints of any kind are very safe when properly used, though certainly bracing and tethering can increase safety. I would not imply that a correctly used rear-facing restraint is "unsafe" in any case. Note that in the USA, "All children ages 12 years and younger should ride in the back seat. This eliminates the injury risk of deployed front passenger-side airbags and places children in the safest part of the vehicle in the event of a crash. Riding in the back seat is associated with a 46% reduction in the risk of fatal injury in cars with a front passenger-side airbag and at least a 30% reduction in the risk of fatal injury in cars with no front passenger-side airbag (Braver 1998)." - http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/childpas.htm > - Collision tests show that child seats mounted in the rear give higher > stresses on the child body than seats mounted in the front. Again, this may well be true with a carseat properly designed for the application of being braced up against the dash in the front seat. These are not common in the USA, and almost all USA manufacturers recommend their seats be placed in the back seat. > The trick to reduce the body > stresses is to be able to have the child seat follow the car collision impulse > curve as much as possible (this is done by having the seat mounted as tight as > possible, welding is the best method here!) and by spreading the collision > forces on as large area as possible of the child body (this is done by making > the child seat back as large as possible ) Agreed- a tighter installation is better as it more closely couples the child restraint to the vehicle. This increases the "ride down" time of the occupant in the crash by allowing them to take advantage of the crushing frame of the vehicle. > - If the child is placed in the rear never place it close to the door, rather in > the middle (and don't forget the supporting stand to the car floor!). The reason > for this is that the post between the front and rear door is the weakest point > of the car at a side collision. Also for a side collision the front seat > mounting is superior since the car is strongest at the front post, which in > combination with the fairly stiff wall between the engine and passenger areas > protects the child extremely well. Side impacts are dangerous, though rear-facing seats do provide a reasonable degree of side impact protection compared to front-facing seats and boosters. The middle is indeed safest if the child seat fits properly there. > - 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. > - Having the child in the front reduces the risk of ending up in accident. A US > study shows that the risk of getting an accident at all is increased by about > 30% if the child sits in the rear seat, this is probably due to the poor contact > between the driver and the rear seated child. If this is also true in the USA, that would appear to almost balance the added risk of fatal injury of a child being in the front seat. > Car manufacturers tend to recommend to have the child seat in the rear just to > simplify their responsibilities and to reduce the problems of being able to > easily disconnect the airbag. Thus, don't trust the car manufacturers in this > case, they are not looking at the problem from a child perspective. This is certainly true to some extent, though the recommendations for the rear seat are nearly universal in the USA. Almost every auto manufacturer, carseat manufacturer and child passenger safety advocacy group recommends that all kids 12 and under sit in back. Until USA parents have the same vehicles, child restraints and child passenger safety education level in the USA as Sweden has, I believe this is probably the safest recommendation. Darren

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