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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!ihuxb!mcal
From: mcal@ihuxb.UUCP (Mike Clifford)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: Car Seat in the front seat
Message-ID: <945@ihuxb.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 27-Feb-85 13:04:31 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxb.945
Posted: Wed Feb 27 13:04:31 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Mar-85 05:43:52 EST
References: <701@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 49

> I don't know of any comparison in the DEGREE of safety between front seat and
> rear seat for the child seat.  (Lots of seats. :-)  But here's my understanding
> of the rules, in order of importance:
> 
> 	1.  Always use the child seat.  ALWAYS!

		Absolutely!  It drives my wife and I crazy when we see people
		holding their children in their laps.  Don't they realize that
		in an accident the child will be crushed between the adult
		and the dashboard (or, if the adult has a seat belt on, that
		the child will be impossible to hold)??

> 	2.  Face it backwards.  (It's worth noting that this is also the safest
> 	    position for the adults, too, but it's not socially acceptable, so
> 	    cars aren't made this way.  No cute jokes about the driver.)

		I don't believe that it is ALWAYS the safest for the child
		seat to be facing backward.  The manufacturer instructs the
		user to face the seat forward after a child reaches a certain
		weight (20lbs. for the Century 200).  I assume that the seat
		(when used facing forward) is better able to handle the
		stronger forces that result from the increased weight of the
		child.

> 	3.  Put it in the rear seat.  (Also safer for adults.)

		The child is equally safe in either front or back as
		long as the child seat is used properly.  Perhaps it is
		shielded from flying glass better when in the rear, but
		when the driver and the child are the only occupants,
		the child should sit up front with the adult driver.

> 	4.  Make it snug.

		Absolutely.

> 
> The Century is difficult to adjust.  Grin and bear it.

		But, in the case of the Century 200 (or 4200), the one-snap
		design of the padded torso restraint is very convenient.

> 
> ---Pete
>

		Mike Clifford