I heard they changed the carseat laws to 6 and 60 pounds....did they? - Page 2

[its_our_family]

I'll do anything for the safety of my baby! And you are right about a booster helping you see out. I have that problem as an adult half the time! Actually I'm just barely aboe to ride in the front seat according to some car manufacturers! I'm only 60 incehs tall and I believe in some vehicles that is the min!

btw...dh would rather walk than own a minivan! He said if we have another babe we'll get an Envoy! Which is what I want...when we got pg with Sweetpea I was already bugging him about it! That was off topic...oh well!

[lilyka]

Most cars will seat 3 carseats. My friend got three carseats in the back of a geo metro. Ok, a professinal installer did it for her but still, we were all pretty impressed by the big squeeze.

Kids can't sit in the front because airbags deploy in even low impact crashes and kill children.

Today there was a gieve away at two locations in town where people can pick up free booster seats. Too bad so many were sucked up by people driving expensive gass guzzeling and luxery cars (dh said there were over 100 new SUV and several people driving lexuses) If you can afford to drive that kind of car you can afford $20 for a booster. Sorry OT rant about people taking things away from people who actually need them. The giveaway was sponsored by United Way and Ford.

As for enforcing the law, police do drive around with scales in the trunk of thier car here.There are so many neglegent and under informed parents that this has to be a law. I want to scream everytime i see toddlers bouncing around in the front seat. I want to call the police and make them do something about this. unfortunately people rarely get pulled over for this.

[grisandole]

Not much time, but I agree w/lea. Yes, 8/80 is safest, but do parents get fined for having a crappy seat vs. a safe seat (cosco vs. britax comes to mind, thinking of the consumer reports crash tests results)? Where does it end? FWIW, I am also against the seat belt laws and helmet laws (for 18 and over).
Why is it that a 7yo must be strapped into a seat, but he can ride totally unrestrained in a school bus? "Follow the money" is something my ex used to tell me whenever I got outraged at some new "thing"......he said, think about who profits, then you'll understand.

[yoga]

I am totally w/lea on this. It is a big money-making scheme, and the safety of children is just a ploy. I mean, we could cite examples all day of kids who *were* "properly restrained (oh, that word makes me cringe!), and they still died as a result of an automobile accident. I don't need/want the gov't telling me what I ought to do for the safety of my babies. This same gov't tells me I ought to vaccinate, but I'm not doing that. Where does the line get drawn when it comes to the "safety and well-being" of our kids?

OK, getting off-track. We ride the bus, now. Fortunately, I don't have supply carseats for that.

Seems to me that if the gov't cared all that much about our kid's safety, built-in car seats of some sort would be standard in all motor vehicles. Oh! Sorry...makin' too much sense, now.

:

[chellemarie]

I, too, am with Lea on this one.

While I'm not against safety belt and seat laws, I think there comes a point where they're just plain overboard.

We were pg with #3 when the law changed from 4/40 to 6yo here. We'll have two in seats for a year now. We never imagined it'd take us this long to leave the house. *L*

Here's my beef with carseats...

I have an infant carrier/car seat that was purchased new when I had my son 8.5 years ago. He used the seat for less than six months (more like four, I think) before he weighed too much for it. When we had DD 3.5 years later, she used it for another six or so months.

So, we had a seat that had been used for maybe a year. It'd never been in an accident and we were the original owners. It'd been stored in a cool environment away from the sun.

I called the manufacturer to ensure there'd been no recalls on that model in 8.5 years. She said there were no recalls but that the seat was over five years old and therefore "EXPIRED" and should be destroyed.

Plastic EXPIRES? The same substance everyone freaks out about because it never breaks down in our landfills? You MUST be joking.

I took the seat to the car seat inspector at our local police department. He said the seat was safe to use but just to be safe, not to use it past ten years. Okay, fine. I can deal with that. I can't deal with car seats EXPIRING after FIVE years regardless of the amount of use they've seen. Especially the short-term use ones like infant carriers.

You can't convince me THAT isn't a brilliant way of car seat manufacturers playing on parents' fears and taking advantage of the business they're in. ANNNND....with so many states saying kids have to be in seats until they're 6, do you have to replace your "expired" seat with only one year to go? Are you following me, here?

Also, I find it offensive that one car seat is supposed to be so much safer than all the others and is therefore MUCH more expensive than all the others. Sure, I should pay the price to make sure my kids are safe and well cared-for. But why the hell should it cost SO much? If it's really not safe, the cheap seat shouldn't be on the shelf. And the expensive seat should be made affordable for ALL parents. Not just the ones who can afford to fork out that kind of cash and then say "cost shoudn't matter when it comes to your children."

You're right, it shouldn't. But that attitude doesn't mean I magically have more money in my pockets. Though I really wish it did. LOL

[lilyka]

Thge integrity of plastic does break down after time especially when it is expeosed to extreme temperatures. Often time becoming brittle and breaking more easily in an impact. Also the padding gets thin and worn out providing less comfort and protection. There is also an issue with the straps becoming brittle and snaping in an impact.

While we don't go so far as ot buy the exspensive versions we do buy good carseats and replace frequently to ensure that in the event we need them they work properly.

[Piglet68]

I have to admit that all these changing laws, increasing standards, warnings about using "outdated" older seats (that were "the safest thing" not too long ago), etc...all remind me of the whole CRIB thing. You know, how cribs are so damned unsafe but rather than come out and admit it they just change the standards every year or two, make any parent thinking of getting a hand-me-down crib cringe in fear and guilt, etc.

I think whoever said "follow the money" is RIGHT on the money. I can't help but agree with those who say that there are plenty of other things that can assure the safety of your child and they will never be laws b/c nobody is lobbying to make money off it.

The whole lack of front seating thing is rough. What if you don't have an airbag? What if you have it removed? I mean, which one of us would not rather have our rear-facing baby in the seat next to us while we're driving, instead of constantly gazing at them through the system of mirrors we must install? And the SUN is becoming a huge problem for us now that it's winter and it sits so low. We've got those damn sun shades everywhere but somehow we end up at an angle where it is RIGHT in DD's eyes and she gets SO upset! And I can't do anything from up front!!

But then I think about a head on collision and baby flying through the window...of course, I could just as easily be hit from the back..or from the side...it's just too much!!!!!

AAAAAHHH!!!

[grisandole]

I have a bit more time now. The carseat thing is hard beacuse I absolutely want my kids to be as safe as possible. So I research and purchase the best seats; will remain rear facing as long as possible, etc. That being said, there is a difference in being safe, and laws to ensure child safety; and going overboard (law wise). I find it ridicuclous to legislate one aspect of child safety but ignore everything else (school buses w/out seatbelts, roller skates w/out helmets, playground equipment, fast food/junk food, unsafe products like walkers, etc.) Children are entitled to grow up safe; however, safety is in the eye of the beholder.......and I don't think that the government is a good judge of safety. In general, cars are pretty dangerous (statisticlly sp). We do what we can to make using the car as safe as possible. I think more needs to be done in the area of making the cars themselves safer.........when comparing crash tests results I don't understand how two cars of the same class, priced the same can do differently.....shouldn't they all get 5 stars? Why make cars that get one star? And those aren't even cheaper! But, that would cost the big corporations a lot of money, and maybe a cut in their profits. So, just make parents buy devices to protect kids because the cars aren't made well enough.........pass the buck and the responsibility.

Oh, about the front seat thing, I totally agree. It was much easier driving w/ds1, who is 10 now, as my car then didn't have an airbag. He was in the rear middle as an infant, but then went up front.......depending on the length of the drive and such.

[levar]

If the car doesn't have a front passenger seat airbag it is ok for children to ride in it. And if there is an off switch for the airbag that is ok too. It is the airbag that is the problem because it can break bones etc. If you read that SAFE Kids site [THANKS for that one FYI] you'll find this and other interesting stuff.

So those older cars and trucks are aok, plus the newer SUVs, trucks, and convertibles etc. And it is interesting to note that in many states [WA State for example] laws note that "research" has shown [?Weird, but it IS in there?] that lap belts cause more injury than no belts so for cars with only lap belts there are exemptions.

And there was MORE if you read up or search the internet too. I was amazed.

[its_our_family]

the whole kid flying out the window thing reminded me of a story...

My landlord is an EMT and he said that the baby being strapped in correct is as or more important than it being in the car right. He said about 2 yrs ago they went to a wreck where a family of 4 had been in an accident. The father had been killed and a baby was thrown from the car. They found the carseat on the side of the road over turned. When they flipped it over there was the baby. Screaming her head off and just a few cuts and scrapes! I can't imagine the absolute dread of turning that seat over!

And there was a guy in cincinnati that was in a wreck about 2 months ago. A 2yr old was killed because they were not in a carseat. There were 9 people in a Honda Civic (i don't know how they all fit) and there were 8 or more of those dvd players in the one car! They were in the headrests and even on the rearview mirror!