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-   -   "Child Seat" for Babies & Kids (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/9215-child-seat-babies-kids-20.html)

Came across this link:

Are car seats in front seat safe? | CarSeat.se

How true is it? Because till now I have generally heard that children with car seats (or) otherwise should be present in the back seat only.

Also, till what age are children kept in the rear facing seats? and when will they be turned around to be front facing? Thanks in advance for the answers.

@arvind71181; A very thought provoking note. I know the French call the front passengers seat,'La Chaise Mort'. I do not think I need to translate. Many EU countries simply ban children below 10/12 from the front seats. Now with this article the debate can be reopened.

It will not be easy (and may not be advisable) to provide a facility to disable the passenger side airbag for starters.

I totally agree with you here. In fact, it only takes one instance of forgetting to either switch the airbag on or off to result in a huge risk.

IMHO, it is best to follow the practice of seating kids in the rear. Ideally in child seats, but if these are not available, they should at least be seated and buckled up. Unfortunately, we all notice a lot of child passengers standing immediately behind the hand brake between both seats. One small impact is all it takes for the child to be off balance.

Regardless of presence/ absence of airbags, I would recommend that children should be seated and buckled up in the rear seat. Totally pointless and extremely dangerous in leaving them free to roam about.

Interesting question; I never noticed this, but it should be mentioned on the manual that comes with the car seat. I will try to find that and update this thread

Edit: Some info I found in the US manual issued by Honda. Attached a word doc, as I was facing issues with text formatting. My patience did not hold up as I tried to edit/ format twice but it didnt work. Patience is usually in short suppy, but worst on Monday afternoons I guess :)

The lack of air bags in a majority of the number of cars sold here would be of help here I guess :). Seriously though, rear seat should be fine enough right? Also, till what age would a child be placed rear facing and when would he/she be tilted to be forward facing?

EDIT: Also, there are cars now in India which have the passenger air bag deactivation switch right? Correct me if I am wrong here

The car seat I bought has a sticker that says to keep it rear facing till the child weighs at least 10 kgs.

I have a trip planned to Chennai. Flying down with my daughter.
From there I have a car trip planned to Trichy. Its about 350 kms one way.
I have my sister's car, but no child seat.

What is the best way to pack my child seat for the flight.
Do they allow cardboard cartons in the flight. Can I wrap it up in some towels and seal it in a carton along with some clothes.

Suggest you borrow a car seat from some friend in Chennai if you can.

Why don't you just check-in the seat along with other baggage? It should be quite similar the way you check-in a stroller. Maybe it’s good call up the airlines and reconfirm.

I have two child seats. One is for children under 10 kgs and the other which can be used till 4 years of age.

My daughter is still under the weight limit but about 2 cms more than the hieght limit. When I sat her in the seat, she was comfortable.
This seat being just a stage 1, is quite small. It fit inside a suitcase. I have my dad's clothes to borrow in Chennai. So I just kept a few bare essentials.

another option would be to send through travels like dhanunjaya. you can hand it over to them when the bus starts and collect it in chennai omni bus stand.

When I removed my new car seat from the car and tried to fit it in a suitcase. I discovered the user manual. :)

It was tucked under the cushion. To be precise it was under the part that supports the head.

Haha! I thought I was the only fool in town. I discovered the manual two months later (had downloaded a soft copy though). But I still remember the sales person didn't mention anything about it to me. They should ideally.

Some one please tell me what are the different forces that act on the child who is buckled in a child seat. Please compare front-on collisions in a forward facing child seat and a back facing child seat. (I am assuming that front-on collisions have the most severe impact on occupants.)

Once we agree on the acting forces, we can easily decide whether a front facing or back facing child seat is better.

Head on is not as bad as a side collision. The head on allows the engine and the crumble zones to take away a large part of the energy.

The head is the heaviest part of a child's body. When a child is sitting rear facing, in the event of a head on collision, the seat prevents the head from continuing in the forward direction relative to the vehicle.
This reduces the strain on the neck muscles.

If the child is forward facing then due to inertia the head will continue forward movement, while the body is being restrained by the harness.
This will put a lot of strain on the neck.

Head on collision is however the most common type of collision.

So that means in a head-on collision, the child's neck should be strong enough to 'restrain' the head if the child seat is forward facing. How strong should the neck be, is determined by the following:
1. Speed of the vehicles involved. (Stronger neck needed for higher speeds).
2. Physical measurements of child (Height, Weight).

Now isn't it obvious that it is better to use a rear-facing child 'for as long as possible' regardless of the legal recommendations?

The law may allow a forward-facing child seat for kids above one year, but the neck may not necessarily be strong enough to 'restrain' the head in the event of high-speed head-on collisions.