Inflatable seat belts and kid's booster seats
02-18-2019, 04:32 PM
#1
Inflatable seat belts and kid's booster seats
I have a 15 SCREW that has inflatable rear seat belts, and had been using Britax boosters for my two kids up until last week. I got hit and while we were not seriously injured, my 5 year old was taken to the hospital for checking. My 7 year old was sore as was I and the three of us have minor whiplash we are being treated for. The accident was minor enough that I only have to replace the rear bumper (we were on an icy snow covered road and I had released the brake when I realized we were going to be hit) BUT I have to replace the seats. The insurance company for the at fault driver has been so far decent to work with and are also advising on replacement. The seats we had are no longer made and the newer Britax High/Skyline booster series is not yet approved for use with inflatable belts. I don't care about the cost because it's a small price for the safety of my kids, but I need something that is for kids that are at 48" tall and 55lbs with the hopes I won't need another seat after this one. I have Recaro in the wife's Mercedes, but those aren't available in the US anymore either. So what do you guys use/recommend (aside from a trailer or leaving them home)? Thanks for any input.
02-18-2019, 08:59 PM
#3
Senior Member
Sorry to hear about your scare, but good to know you all are ok.
Unfortunately I don't have the answer your looking for, but I'll try to look for one and update you if I find anything. The info I might find for you is also important to me as I ordered my truck with the seatbelt inflatable airbags mostly for my kids.
In my case my 2 girls, aged 9 & 12, seat on the sides with these seat belts and they don't need boosters whereas the sneaky boy, 7, uses a booster in the center, without seat airbag. Now, sometimes when one of the girls is absent the little fireboy wants to be at the window and it never crossed my mind about booster compatibilities. I'll be looking for answers on this, but what is so different about the boosters you're using to make them certified to use with these seats?
By the way (I'm assuming it didn't) but did the airbags on those seats go off?
Unfortunately I don't have the answer your looking for, but I'll try to look for one and update you if I find anything. The info I might find for you is also important to me as I ordered my truck with the seatbelt inflatable airbags mostly for my kids.
In my case my 2 girls, aged 9 & 12, seat on the sides with these seat belts and they don't need boosters whereas the sneaky boy, 7, uses a booster in the center, without seat airbag. Now, sometimes when one of the girls is absent the little fireboy wants to be at the window and it never crossed my mind about booster compatibilities. I'll be looking for answers on this, but what is so different about the boosters you're using to make them certified to use with these seats?
By the way (I'm assuming it didn't) but did the airbags on those seats go off?
02-18-2019, 09:46 PM
#4
Senior Member
I checked on the Britax website and didn't find anywhere info in regards to the compliance with inflatable seatbelts or not. How exactly did you get this info from?
I can understand your concern with the seats' morphology and to be honest I be concerned if if seats that wrap a child that much allow for the seatbelt airbag to actually operate perfectly as designed. I'd look for something with a bit less padding around the shoulder area. I had my kids in similar seats as the Britax when they were smaller too, but the seatbelts were regular ones.
I can understand your concern with the seats' morphology and to be honest I be concerned if if seats that wrap a child that much allow for the seatbelt airbag to actually operate perfectly as designed. I'd look for something with a bit less padding around the shoulder area. I had my kids in similar seats as the Britax when they were smaller too, but the seatbelts were regular ones.
02-18-2019, 10:29 PM
#5
Good for you for realizing that your car seats need to be replaced. I've got two girls (4 & 6), and my wife has become very knowledgeable on car seats. She even contemplated becoming a CPST (child passenger safety technician) for a while.
She didn't know off hand which seats would work, but I found a link from a reputable site that she refers to frequently. There is a chart with seats that are compatible listed on there.
https://csftl.org/inflatable-seat-belts-car-seats/
Hopefully you can find one that works for you, and glad everyone is Okay.
She didn't know off hand which seats would work, but I found a link from a reputable site that she refers to frequently. There is a chart with seats that are compatible listed on there.
https://csftl.org/inflatable-seat-belts-car-seats/
Hopefully you can find one that works for you, and glad everyone is Okay.
Last edited by markag; 02-19-2019 at 01:14 PM.
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02-18-2019, 11:02 PM
#6
My last vehicle got t-boned, just me inside (2 empty kid seats), am I truly expected to buy new ones? I can't see any logic in that. They're just plastic and there's simply no stinking way anything about them was damaged. What is the rule of thumb on this? I have a healthy skepticism when it comes to corporate America and this aspect really pegs my BS meter, replacing car seats that were not themselves impacted sounds to me like "BUY MORE NEW CAR SEATS FROM US NOW!". I'm open minded, maybe there's something i am missing, teach me. Literally, no way in hell my car seats were structurally compromised, I may not be a car seat designer, but I am an engineer, I do have common sense, and I do care deeply about my children.
02-18-2019, 11:21 PM
#7
Senior Member
My last vehicle got t-boned, just me inside (2 empty kid seats), am I truly expected to buy new ones? I can't see any logic in that. They're just plastic and there's simply no stinking way anything about them was damaged. What is the rule of thumb on this? I have a healthy skepticism when it comes to corporate America and this aspect really pegs my BS meter, replacing car seats that were not themselves impacted sounds to me like "BUY MORE NEW CAR SEATS FROM US NOW!". I'm open minded, maybe there's something i am missing, teach me. Literally, no way in hell my car seats were structurally compromised, I may not be a car seat designer, but I am an engineer, I do have common sense, and I do care deeply about my children.
There are worse ways to burn money, I guess...
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02-18-2019, 11:37 PM
#8
Senior Member
@ markag
Thanks for the link!
I went on reading it and when I shown my wife my enlightened findings, she snorted at me something like "would you think that I would know all about those sites by now?"
Jeez woman, chill out, I thought you only spent your time on Facebook
Thanks for the link!
I went on reading it and when I shown my wife my enlightened findings, she snorted at me something like "would you think that I would know all about those sites by now?"
Jeez woman, chill out, I thought you only spent your time on Facebook
02-19-2019, 12:10 AM
#9
I’ll attach some links later but the one listed above is also one of my sources as well as one called thecarseatlady. That site also has a list of seats by brand and model that the manufacturers have tested with inflatable seat belts. I have a technical and engineering background as well and have spent a lot of time studying failure analysis and how plastics and metals behave under stress. So my inner nerd came out and I read the car seat manuals as well as all my vehicle manuals when we first had kids and I study each new one as well. Since the seat manufacturers recommend replacement after any sort of collision(like helmet manufacturers do), when my wife was hit several years ago, I asked the insurance company for new seats citing the manufacturers manual. They said absolutely, and no further questions were asked. This time, the police officer, medics, and ER doctors (son was taken by the medics because he felt dizzy as well as sore) all said the same thing and the insurance company for the driver who hit me said to replace the seats and take pictures of the old ones destroyed when I supply my receipts for the new ones. So I’d say that it’s now industry practice to err on the side of caution when it comes to kids.
I’ve looked at a Peg Perego Viaggio and a Diono seat, which are $300 and $100 respectively, but there are some that are below $50 listed on the blogs, which shows a broad spectrum. If some of you aren’t aware of the inflatable belts and weren’t conscious of the car seats, I encourage you to do some reading because if the belt bag deploys and is too big for the routing, it could cause parts of the car seat to separate and cause injury.
Useful links
Britax customer service
PDF list of approved Britax seats
The Car Seat Lady
Safekids.org list
Car Seats for the Littles
I’ve looked at a Peg Perego Viaggio and a Diono seat, which are $300 and $100 respectively, but there are some that are below $50 listed on the blogs, which shows a broad spectrum. If some of you aren’t aware of the inflatable belts and weren’t conscious of the car seats, I encourage you to do some reading because if the belt bag deploys and is too big for the routing, it could cause parts of the car seat to separate and cause injury.
Useful links
Britax customer service
PDF list of approved Britax seats
The Car Seat Lady
Safekids.org list
Car Seats for the Littles
Last edited by Nick 55; 02-19-2019 at 12:36 AM. Reason: Added links
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02-19-2019, 01:11 PM
#10
I’ll attach some links later but the one listed above is also one of my sources as well as one called thecarseatlady. That site also has a list of seats by brand and model that the manufacturers have tested with inflatable seat belts. I have a technical and engineering background as well and have spent a lot of time studying failure analysis and how plastics and metals behave under stress. So my inner nerd came out and I read the car seat manuals as well as all my vehicle manuals when we first had kids and I study each new one as well. Since the seat manufacturers recommend replacement after any sort of collision(like helmet manufacturers do), when my wife was hit several years ago, I asked the insurance company for new seats citing the manufacturers manual. They said absolutely, and no further questions were asked. This time, the police officer, medics, and ER doctors (son was taken by the medics because he felt dizzy as well as sore) all said the same thing and the insurance company for the driver who hit me said to replace the seats and take pictures of the old ones destroyed when I supply my receipts for the new ones. So I’d say that it’s now industry practice to err on the side of caution when it comes to kids.
I’ve looked at a Peg Perego Viaggio and a Diono seat, which are $300 and $100 respectively, but there are some that are below $50 listed on the blogs, which shows a broad spectrum. If some of you aren’t aware of the inflatable belts and weren’t conscious of the car seats, I encourage you to do some reading because if the belt bag deploys and is too big for the routing, it could cause parts of the car seat to separate and cause injury.
Useful links
Britax customer service
PDF list of approved Britax seats
The Car Seat Lady
Safekids.org list
Car Seats for the Littles
I’ve looked at a Peg Perego Viaggio and a Diono seat, which are $300 and $100 respectively, but there are some that are below $50 listed on the blogs, which shows a broad spectrum. If some of you aren’t aware of the inflatable belts and weren’t conscious of the car seats, I encourage you to do some reading because if the belt bag deploys and is too big for the routing, it could cause parts of the car seat to separate and cause injury.
Useful links
Britax customer service
PDF list of approved Britax seats
The Car Seat Lady
Safekids.org list
Car Seats for the Littles
My kids are 4 and 6, and we still have them in a harnessed booster seat, Britax Pinnacle Clicktight, and we have them both still in 5 point harnesses. According to the Britax customer service link I found from Britax yesterday (same one you had linked to), our car seats are compatible with the Ford inflatable seat belts.
I'm currently looking for a F150 myself to purchase. For me and my wife, we would prefer to not have one with inflatable seat belts because we are still using car seats, and we are concerned about car seat compatibility with inflatable seat belts.
The Car Seat Lady and Car Seats for the Littles are both go-to resources for those that want to know about car seat safety.
For those that are concerned about replacing your car seats in an impact, there are certain brands or models of car seats that will specify what level of impact or incident is allowed without requiring a car seat change. Our Britax car seats define what they would consider a minor incident that does not require replacement in the owners manual for the seat. In general though, these seats weigh a good amount, and they are generally made from lightweight materials and impact absorbing foam that is one time use only. I would rather spend a low amount ($50 to 300) to replace car seats than have them not function properly should anything happen in the future. The seats we own are relatively expensive in the range of car seats (closer to that $300 range), the inconvenience of replacing a seat due to an accident is way better than medical bills, injuries, or worse down the road if a car seat were to fail or under-perform in an accident.
