WTB: Britax Starriser - Child seat (No longer needed)
07-02-2010, 11:41 PM
#31
Race Car
Keeps them contained. Mom can't drive while talking on the cell phone if kids are jumping around the cockpit.
Since they didn't have carseats, if they had had cell phones when I was little, I probably wouldn't be here now.
Thinking back, I was the oldest. So I had dibbs on the best spot in the car, laying up on the deck under the back glass of a 59 chevy.
Since they didn't have carseats, if they had had cell phones when I was little, I probably wouldn't be here now.
Thinking back, I was the oldest. So I had dibbs on the best spot in the car, laying up on the deck under the back glass of a 59 chevy.
I used to sit in some metal seat in my mom's 1965 Pontiac Catalina (and it might as well have been a boat!)
07-03-2010, 01:19 AM
#32
This child seat business is a bit nonsensical.
First, the statistical evidence is that for <2y there's a significant benefit from an infant seat. But for >2y there's no evidence of benefit relative to just wearing seat belts. Yet the crazy mothers and manufacturers have lobbied laws in that require grown men to sit in booster seats. Car manufacturers spend billions to make the back seat safe. Then crazy mothers put Chinese toy manufacturers in charge of redesigning it?!.
The usual deal, disappointing but not terribly surprising.
Here's someone making that point:
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.co...ont-work-well/
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/car-seats/
I don't know Dubner personally but I know Levitt and he's a serious researcher.
Because of this, a logical 928 driving father (we're mostly fathers, not mothers) is left with a conundrum of conflicting goals:
- How to satisfy the illogical wife / ex-wife / baby mama when logic, evidence, data can't be used?
- How to protect yourself against those who are paid (with your tax money) to "protect" and ""serve"" you
- How to actually keep your children safe
Personally, I have ended up resolving this problem in the following way.
- For babies, I use the rear-facing infant seats, they work. Can't put one on the back seat of a 997 C2SC, so I have to take the M5 when driving babies around. Life is hard.
- For older kids, find the base-only booster seat that is exactly the right height to put the seat belt over the collarbone the right way. For Porsches, the rear seat belts are already at about the right height for older kids. Therefore, the task is to find the slimmest possible booster base.
The booster seat backrest is by my estimation not beneficial to older kids, unless your objective is to get your kid to hit her head to the seat in front of her just a little bit earlier (and thus harder.) My estimation and about $2 will get you a venti coffee at Starbux.
Goes without saying that don't do anything without thinking it thru with your own brain. Don't believe the crazy mama, the legislator being paid off by the Chinese toy manufacturer, or the drunk guy posting on the internet.
First, the statistical evidence is that for <2y there's a significant benefit from an infant seat. But for >2y there's no evidence of benefit relative to just wearing seat belts. Yet the crazy mothers and manufacturers have lobbied laws in that require grown men to sit in booster seats. Car manufacturers spend billions to make the back seat safe. Then crazy mothers put Chinese toy manufacturers in charge of redesigning it?!.
The usual deal, disappointing but not terribly surprising.
Here's someone making that point:
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.co...ont-work-well/
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/car-seats/
I don't know Dubner personally but I know Levitt and he's a serious researcher.
Because of this, a logical 928 driving father (we're mostly fathers, not mothers) is left with a conundrum of conflicting goals:
- How to satisfy the illogical wife / ex-wife / baby mama when logic, evidence, data can't be used?
- How to protect yourself against those who are paid (with your tax money) to "protect" and ""serve"" you
- How to actually keep your children safe
Personally, I have ended up resolving this problem in the following way.
- For babies, I use the rear-facing infant seats, they work. Can't put one on the back seat of a 997 C2SC, so I have to take the M5 when driving babies around. Life is hard.
- For older kids, find the base-only booster seat that is exactly the right height to put the seat belt over the collarbone the right way. For Porsches, the rear seat belts are already at about the right height for older kids. Therefore, the task is to find the slimmest possible booster base.
The booster seat backrest is by my estimation not beneficial to older kids, unless your objective is to get your kid to hit her head to the seat in front of her just a little bit earlier (and thus harder.) My estimation and about $2 will get you a venti coffee at Starbux.
Goes without saying that don't do anything without thinking it thru with your own brain. Don't believe the crazy mama, the legislator being paid off by the Chinese toy manufacturer, or the drunk guy posting on the internet.
I'm only getting a car seat because it's the f###### law and I don't have a rear shoulder beat to allow use of a pure booster seat.
Being required to have 75 pound kid in a baby seat is a big pet peeve of mine.
At least the laws make people feel all warm and fuzzy. After all, it's for the children.
07-03-2010, 01:20 AM
#33
Nordschleife Master
The backrest doesn't make them safer (other than to keep their head whipping left or right in a side impact). The key is the shoulder belt rests correctly on the child's shoulder. That is the main function. Newer boosters offer a hard shell with padding and side impact protection. To your point above-you can take the back off of this seat and just use the base.
Not at all convinced those little red plastic things are going to do anything to the belt on impact. Either the kid sits at the right height or doesn't, red or pink Chinese plastic straps aren't going to do jack about it when on impact your child suddenly weighs an effective 300 kg.
What's simple in my opinion is that the current situation is f'd up. Mad mommys and lobbying Chinese toy makers won the round.
The problem itself is complex. I don't know what's the optimal thing to do. But I'd rather put my kids in the hands of BMW, Volvo, or Porsche/VW than a Chinese toy manufacturer. I know for a fact that BMW, Volvo, and Porsche/VW spend billions on back-seat safety. The Chinese toy manufacturers probably can't even keep the lead off the god damn paint on their products.
On our M5 or M45S, you need a reasonably high base for a 4-year old.
On 997 convertible, the tall 6-year old would probably be safer without any booster seat. Yet the mad mommy and the lobbyist have made a law that some kind of Chinese toy manufacturer's universal product must be purchased and installed.
You can't design a safe child safety seat that is universal and not specific to the car model. Isn't that obvious?
It's questionable that the law allows selling these things. It's preposterous that they are mandated.
Instead of making laws mandating universal child "safety" seats, we should only allow selling them per model and only after they go thru the same degree of safety testing as the cars themselves.
How this really should be solved is adjustable seat height / built in booster seats like with some Volvos. I wouldn't be surprised if that one seating arrangement by Volvo was tested with a bigger budget than all child safety seat manufacturers annual testing budgets combined.
07-03-2010, 01:25 AM
#34
Nordschleife Master
I couldn't agree with you more. I'm only getting a car seat because it's the f###### law and I don't have a rear shoulder beat to allow use of a pure booster seat. Being required to have 75 pound kid in a baby seat is a big pet peeve of mine. At least the laws make people feel all warm and fuzzy. After all, it's for the children.
What pisses me off is intelligent people close to me who disengage their brains when thinking about child "safety" seats. My wife being an example of an extremely intelligent person who is very close to me.
