Car Seat Safety
Friday, November 24, 2006

I just saw a heartbreaking video on a recent post at Thingamababy. It was about the importance of using a 5-point car seat for as long as possible because a seatbelt, the only thing securing a booster seat, can come unlatched during an accident. 3 year old, Kyle David Miller died when his seat belt came unlatched during a roll-over and he and his booster seat were ejected from the vehicle. His life could've been saved if he had been riding in a seat with a LATCH system and a 5-point safety harness. As stated on his memorial site, Kyle was over 40 lbs. Most 5-point harness carseats sold in stores have a weight limit of 40 lbs, so Kyle's parents thought they had to move him up to a booster seat. Little did they know at the time, there is a seat made by Britax called the Regent that is a 5-point harness that uses the Lower Anchors and Tethers system and will hold a child up to 80 pounds. Now, Kyle's parents are passionate about informing parents about the lack of protection booster seats provide. They want to urge parents everywhere to keep their children in a 5-point harness for as long as possible so a tragedy like theirs does not have to happen to anyone else.

I can't imagine the pain this family has had to endure. I am thankful that they are spreading the word about using 5-point safety harnesses even on older children. I've been thinking a lot about car seats lately. I really do want to go with a Britax, even though they are quite pricey. Up until now, I thought it would be best to go for the Marathon model. The Marathon holds a child from 5lbs to 65lbs and can be rear-facing up to 33lbs. The Regent holds a child from 22lbs to 80lbs and is front-facing only. Honestly, I think it would be wonderful to have both. If we bought both of them, that would be $538!!!!! I know it seems like a lot, but when talking about the safety of our child, it would be totally worth it. Besides, with the reputation Britax has for quality, I know we'd be able to use both of these seats again if we decide to have another child.

The other option would be to use the (used) Evenflo Cozy Carry infant seat we already have first, and then go to the Regent. The Cozy Carry is a rear-facing car seat fits babies 5lbs-22lbs. The one we have was given to us by my sister, but she was not the original owner. It was donated to the pregnancy center where she volunteers, and they cannot accept child safety seats, for whatever reason. It looks like it is in great condition. It was made in March of 2002 and has a stamp on the back that says "Do not use after Dec 31, 2008", so it should be safe. On the other hand, I have no way of knowing if this seat has been in an accident or not AND, when I went to the Evenflo website, there is a headline that says "EVENFLO ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF SAFETY UPGRADE KIT FOR COZY CARRY® INFANT CAR SEAT BASES" and then goes on to say that even though the infant seat meets or exceeds all federal safety standards, recent crash tests conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration lead Evenflo to believe that the performance of the detachable automobile base in certain types of collisions may be improved with a free upgrade. Apparently, you can call a 1-800 number to receive a free upgrade for the car seat base.

I'm kind of confused. I suppose I could call the number to see if I need the upgrade, or if my seat has already been upgraded....but part of me would just feel better if we started fresh with a BRAND NEW seat that I KNOW, without a doubt, has never been in an accident and has not had any safety recalls.

I don't want to be paranoid about getting into a car accident. I refuse to be fearful every time I place my child in a vehicle. I know that God's hand of protection is on me and my family and I trust that we will be taken care of. But I also believe in using the wisdom God gave us. It's sort of like, if I were to eat Twinkies and Big Macs on a regular basis throughout my entire life, KNOWING that they are bad for my health, it seems like it would be sort of silly to claim God's promises concerning healing when my body starts falling apart. Just like I wouldn't knowingly trash my body and then expect a miracle, I don't think it's wise to use an infant car seat that I'm uneasy about just because it was free and then also opt to get a cheap-o seat for when my child gets bigger....and proceed to tell myself "Oh, it doesn't matter, we'll never get into an accident."

Like Kyle's parents said on his memorial site, "Driving is by far the most dangerous situation you will ever put your child in and no matter how safe YOU are, you never know when someone will run a red light and leave you no time to react."

I would also like to get a safer vehicle, preferably one that has components that are compatible the LATCH car seat systems. According to CarSafety.org, virtually all vehicles manufactured in or after 2001 have the LATCH tether anchors. Of course, I really don't think we are in a financial position to buy a later model vehicle right now. Phooey.

Labels: baby gear

posted by Unkempt Mommy @ 11:29 AM,

2 Comments:

At Sun Nov 26, 02:20:00 AM CST, Heidi said...: For now I'd stongly suggest you skip the Regent and get a Marathon.

First, if you do use an infant seat of some kind don't expect to use it until the max weight. I don't know of a single child that made it in an infant seat until 20 or 22 lbs (depending on model) before outgrowing it in length. And if you are considering using a slightly older infant seat, know they had a max height limit, which back a few years ago was 26 to 28 inches, again depending on model. My son didn't hit 20lbs until he was well past a year old, but was too tall for his Evenflo by 5 months of age. This used to be considered one of the biggest reasons that the statistic "9 out of 10 car seats are being used incorrectly" existed. So much emphasis was put on the weight limit that parents weren't aware that their children were too tall and their necks weren't being supported properly.

As you said, the Regent is also a forward facing seat only. The newest schools of thought are now promoting children stay rear facing for as long as possible as it is much safer, but absolutely forward facing no sooner than one year of age. (In various European countries children remain rear facing through the toddler years, and while still not widely known, all the big "experts" (including Amer Academy of Pediatrics) and the now recommend staying rear facing until the child has reached the max weight allowed by the seat. I didn't double check, but 33lbs what was I was remembering too.) But even if you put that aside, there will be a point at which your child is too big for the infant seat yet not big enough for a Regent and you'd get stuck buying something for that inbetween time. First, your child will outgrow the infant seat in height, and even if that didn't happen (but I swear to you it always does!) you would also have to pray that your child doesn't reach the weight limit before being old enough to face forward, which at the earliest allowed by law is currently a year. But again, rear facing past a year seems to be the way things are heading.

The Marathon, with it's current height/weight limits, will work for even the biggest 4 year olds, and in many cases will last until 6. And while the Regent has a much higher weight limit, the height limit (I believe) only gives you an additional 4 inches.

And when comparing the Marathon and Regent consider also your vehicle and the vehicle of any family members/friends you may eventually want or need to put the seat in. The Regent is really large and won't fit in all cars. And since my Marathon also barely fits in an airplane, I know that the Regent certainly wouldn't. (And I've been seeing rumors that the FAA is considering requiring younger children to have their car seats on board. Some airlines won't allow toddlers to sit w/o one now even though once they hit 2 years of age they are no longer allowed to travel as lap babies and you must purchase a seat. They just won't let you on the plane even though you've paid for the seat.)

One last thing to consider, in favor of a Marathon over a Regent at this point in time, is that if you start now with a Marathon, by the time you need a new seat at 5-7 years of age that technology will have changed, laws will have changed, and new products (safer and/or less expenisve) will enter the market. Plastic also begins to break down over time, which is one of the reasons that car seats have an expiration date. So if you go with a Marathon for now you will be able to get the newest latest that meets future laws when the time comes.

Best of luck!

And in case you're interested, some links on the rear facing trend
http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html, http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx, and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9916868
At Sun Nov 26, 05:13:00 AM CST, Danielle said...: We have the marathon and it is a great seat! I think we got it at albeebaby.com

Not all the prints are on sale, but this one is cool and it is $229 right now. http://www.specialtybaby.com/brcomacarsie1.html

Anyway, we used a pumpkin seat so we could transport Max from the house to the car and from the car to restaurants and such without having to wake him and put him in a sling. It was easier, if he was sleeping to just pop out the pumpkin (infant) seat and go. Then we switched to the Marathon after he outgrew his little seat.

Ummm...there was something else I thought I was going to share with you but forgot. Sorry.