As many readers of this blog may recall, we have written about child car seats and how they seemingly provide no safety advantage over seat belts for children 2 and older. This aroused the ire of many safety officials and researchers, who felt we were giving car seats an unduly bad name. Well, it seems like Britney Spears has just given car seats an even worse name. On the good-news front: at least she has the seat strapped into the center of the back seat, as opposed to one side. On the bad-news front: the seat should be installed facing backwards, according to safety experts, and the child should not be allowed to flop over like a rag doll. And on the really, really, really bad-news front: if you’re remotely concerned about the welfare of your kid, you probably shouldn’t be driving around in a convertible.
We’re Not the Only Ones Who Give Car Seats a Bad Name
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. You can also watch it on 
The most disturbing part of that is the vast increase in the death rate for improperly installed seats. Given the apparent equivalence in safety for using them or not we’ll keep using them so our girls can see out the windows but I think I’ll double check the installations.
The most disturbing part of that is the vast increase in the death rate for improperly installed seats. Given the apparent equivalence in safety for using them or not we’ll keep using them so our girls can see out the windows but I think I’ll double check the installations.
I am beginning to think that the child car seat industry is a vast conspiracy to cost us and frustrate us.
First, there is the very difficult task of installing the car seat. Did I get it right? If I didn’t, the car seat can lose its protective ability. Why can’t car seats be designed to for fool-proof installation. In my little world, I’d like to see a universal seat belt attachment that allows the car seat owner to simply plug the car seat into the existing seat belt mechanisms.
Second, if there were, God forbid, a horrible accident, and I had to rush to get my son out of the car, the seat belts on the car seat are not nearly so easy to operate as car seatbelts. Further, I then would have to get his arms out of the straps, and so on. All of which would be horrifying if done under water…in the dark.
Third, when my child is placed BACKWARDS from me, I can no longer see his face. Is he in distress? Is he choking? Are the straps cutting into him?
Before long, I cannot help but believe that someone, based on your research, will take on the laws, claiming that, as parents, we have the RIGHT to protect our children according to the best research.
I am beginning to think that the child car seat industry is a vast conspiracy to cost us and frustrate us.
First, there is the very difficult task of installing the car seat. Did I get it right? If I didn’t, the car seat can lose its protective ability. Why can’t car seats be designed to for fool-proof installation. In my little world, I’d like to see a universal seat belt attachment that allows the car seat owner to simply plug the car seat into the existing seat belt mechanisms.
Second, if there were, God forbid, a horrible accident, and I had to rush to get my son out of the car, the seat belts on the car seat are not nearly so easy to operate as car seatbelts. Further, I then would have to get his arms out of the straps, and so on. All of which would be horrifying if done under water…in the dark.
Third, when my child is placed BACKWARDS from me, I can no longer see his face. Is he in distress? Is he choking? Are the straps cutting into him?
Before long, I cannot help but believe that someone, based on your research, will take on the laws, claiming that, as parents, we have the RIGHT to protect our children according to the best research.
I was struck by the obvious falsity of the “80% of car seats are improperly installed” parents are usually told, and which was repeated without challenge in the original NY TImes article. Putting them in is difficult at first, but I think any parent of a 3 year old can tell you that you get it figured out eventually.
And the figures quoted in the link bear this out: out of 992 children in the sample, 51 were in improperly installed car seats. Unless there is some reason to believe that people who install car seats are significantly more likely to be involved in fatal accidents, it looks like about 5% are improperly installed.
Still scary, given the increased fatility rate, but no where near 80%.
I was struck by the obvious falsity of the “80% of car seats are improperly installed” parents are usually told, and which was repeated without challenge in the original NY TImes article. Putting them in is difficult at first, but I think any parent of a 3 year old can tell you that you get it figured out eventually.
And the figures quoted in the link bear this out: out of 992 children in the sample, 51 were in improperly installed car seats. Unless there is some reason to believe that people who install car seats are significantly more likely to be involved in fatal accidents, it looks like about 5% are improperly installed.
Still scary, given the increased fatility rate, but no where near 80%.
Considering Britney Spears was just saying that her baby is her religion…she obviously doesn’t put much toward it.
Humorous things aside, I think DavidH and aaronescott make really valid points. The truth about safety features is that they don’t meant much until they’re outside of their controlled testing environment. You can have the best safety features, according to the industry, but encounter one of the issues aaronescott pointed out (especially the underwater one), and nothing goes as planned. That said, DavidH is right…it sometimes appears that they get statistics out of thin air.
Considering Britney Spears was just saying that her baby is her religion…she obviously doesn’t put much toward it.
Humorous things aside, I think DavidH and aaronescott make really valid points. The truth about safety features is that they don’t meant much until they’re outside of their controlled testing environment. You can have the best safety features, according to the industry, but encounter one of the issues aaronescott pointed out (especially the underwater one), and nothing goes as planned. That said, DavidH is right…it sometimes appears that they get statistics out of thin air.