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From: kaiser@jaws.DEC (Pete Kaiser  225-5441 or 274-6565)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: Car Seat in the front seat?
Message-ID: <814@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 1-Mar-85 08:35:57 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.814
Posted: Fri Mar  1 08:35:57 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 3-Mar-85 03:02:20 EST
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[Should I put my own original remarks after >s?]

> > 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.

The manufacturer's comment has to do with limitations of the seat's construc-
tion.  In a frontal accident, it's safer to be facing backwards.

> > 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.

Absolutely the most important thing is ALWAYS to use the child seat, but my
understanding is that most accidents happen to the front of the car, and that
therefore the back seat is a safer position.

When Luce and I first had Mireille at home, we disliked intensely having her
facing rearward in the back seat.  Then we realized that we could still inter-
act with her: we could hear her and talk to her.  And when we all rode together
one of us frequently rode in back with her.  We took turns.  Now that she's
over 3, she's completely accustomed to riding in the back seat, and I've never
known her to complain about it.  Sometimes she asks for company there, and she
gets it.

---Pete

Kaiser%JAWS.DEC@decwrl.arpa, Kaiser%BELKER.DEC@decwrl.arpa
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