All posts by Mike

Travis Trapp and Brent Schultz, 16, in Kewaskum, WI, Killed

December 10, 2014 Mike

Who:

Travis Trapp, 16, from Cascade, WI, and Brent Schultz, 16, from Kewaskum, WI, were killed at around 8:39 AM in Kewaskum, WI in Washington County on Cty Highway H on Wednesday, 6/18/14. They were Kewaskum High School students. They drove a 2004 tan Ford Taurus and were impacted after they crossed the center line and ran into a Washington County Sheriff’s deputy driving a police edition 2010-era Chevrolet Impala.
How:

Per police reports, wet roads might have factored into the collision, as there were several storms in the morning of the crash, and the fire chief, Mark Groeschel, stated that there had been standing water even when they had responded to the collision. The students died at the scene, while the deputy had minor injuries and was treated and released at a hospital. The State Patrol indicated that the westbound students lost control, crossed the yellow line, and collided with the deputy. The Fire Department stated that the students had been wearing their seat belts.

Why:

This is a sad collision that likely resulted from weather conditions, although it is possible that speed may also have played a role. It’s also possible that the presence of ESC might have prevented the collision, had it been present in the Taurus. Whatever the cause, as this is a car safety blog, let’s look at the forces that led to these unfortunate losses of life.

The 2004-era Taurus weighs ~3333 lbs and does not have a side impact score. Head and torso side airbags in the front seats were available as an option but were not standard features, and it does not appear that these were present in this Taurus. We can assume that it would have received a “poor” side impact score, had it been tested, as most mid-priced sedans of its time did. The 2010-era Impala weighs ~3585 lbs and comes with a “good” frontal score; the police edition would likely have weighed slightly more.

Given the likely speeds of the collision (I’ll estimate ~55 mph), the collision likely imparted at least 492KJ of energy into the Taurus / Impala. The standard side impact test simulates 143KJ of energy (a 3300-lb sled impacting a vehicle at 31 mph). In other words, the Taurus faced 344% of the force it would have experienced in the types of crashes cars are side rated for, and this was on top of the fact that it would likely have failed the side impact test to begin with. Given these forces and the high degree of vehicle intrusion, it is sadly understandable that the victims succumbed to their injuries, even with the use of seat belts.

The survival of the deputy was to be expected, in contrast, as he experienced a frontal impact that featured survivable forces. The Impala would have been expected to perform safely in a 260KJ collision, which means that the deputy experienced 189% of tested forces. His survival was almost guaranteed as a result.

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Top 7 Reasons to Buy a New Car Seat, With Explanations

December 8, 2014 Mike

If you’re into car safety, child safety, and reviewing recommended car seats the way I am, it’s easy to come up with reasons to buy a new car seat. Similarly, if you’ve ever seen the damage that can occur to children or adults who aren’t properly restrained in a car crash, or, alternatively, if you’ve seen how properly-restrained children can survive unimaginably horrible car accidents (see the orphan seat phenomenon), you already know that new car seats are a good idea.

However, if you’re like the average parent, you might have great intentions to care for your children (or grandchildren, or nieces and nephews), but might not understand exactly why there are so many rules and regulations about car seats, or what the differences are between a $30 eBay seat and a $300 seat like a Clek Fllo (pictured above) or a Britax Boulevard ClickTight, and why the latter are a much better investment in your child’s safety. This post is designed to help clarify some of these questions by working through 10 good reasons to buy a new car seat.

Top 7 Reasons to Buy a New Car Seat, with Explanations and Reviews

1. Car seats do expire, just like bicycle helmets and smoke detectors.

It’s easy to look at a car seat the way we look at a couch in the living room: something we use until it breaks down, looks frightful, or until we’re in the mood for a new one. However, a much better analogy would be to think of a car seat like a bicycle helmet or a set of tires. Bicycle helmets have a limited shelf life, which means that they eventually expire and need to be thrown away whether they were used or not, and whether they’ve ever been involved in a crash or not.

Car seats work in exactly the same way; they’re made of a combination of metal and plastic, and the plastic components break down over time. Similarly, your tires should be replaced every few years even if they look fine, and your smoke detector has an expiration date printed on the underside. Replacing your smoke detector isn’t something you’d put off to save a few dollars, and replacing your car seat is just as important when it comes to keeping your loved ones safe.

2. 2- and 3-year-olds shouldn’t be forward facing, or new seats make extended rear-facing easier

If there’s one thing I harp on in this blog it’s about the benefits of extended rear-facing, and this is simply easier when you buy one of the newer car seats on the market today compared to the older ones. The truth of the matter is that toddlers and young preschoolers like 2- and 3-year-olds have no business forward-facing, even though it’s currently perfectly legal in the United States. Children don’t forward-face in Sweden until they’re at least 4, on average, and this is a big part of why Sweden has the lowest rates of child car accident fatalities in the world.

I’ve written in several places, such as here and here, about how and why rear-facing past 2 is so important, but to make it feasible, you need car seats that rear-face until at least 40 pounds, like the Head Wise 70 or NextFit. It’s even better if you can buy one of the seats that rear-face until 50 pounds, like the Fllo, Foonf, Extend2Fit, Rainier, or Pacifica. The safety differences are worth it, and it’s worth noting that none of the seats with 50 pound rear-facing limits existed more than a handful of years ago. The Fllo, Rainier, and Pacifica just came out this year! That’s how new the technology is.

3. 4- and 5-year-olds shouldn’t be in booster seats, or new seats make extended harnessing easier

Just as 2- and 3-year-olds shouldn’t forward-face due to their developmental vulnerabilities and the inherent safety of rear-facing, 4-and 5-year-olds shouldn’t be in booster seats, regardless of how mature they may appear to be. Instead, they should remain forward-facing as long as possible in harnessed seats, and ideally until around age 8. This is particularly striking when you think of how many 8-year-olds ride in the front seat in seat belts with their parents.

At any rate, keeping elementary-aged children in forward-facing seats and out of boosters would have been an impossibility just a few years ago with most harnessed seats on the market, simply because most of them topped out in weight and height limits too soon to make extended harnessing feasible for all but the smallest children. However, thanks to recent developments in seats like the Frontier and Pinnacle, extended harnessing is not only possible, it’s practical and comfortable.

4. 8-and 9-year olds shouldn’t use adult seat belts, or you need booster seats for longer than you think

Just as 4-and 5-year-olds aren’t ready for booster seats, 8-and 9-year-olds aren’t ready for the adult seat belt, no matter how much they may argue to the contrary. The truth is that booster seats should be used for far longer than most parents think; children typically won’t fit adult seat belt correctly and safely until they’re between 10 and around 12 years old, which means that if you’re allowing your 3rd or 4th grader to sit with you in the front or even sit in the back without a booster seat, you’d benefit from changing that for a safer seating option. Fortunately, the Frontier 90 and Pinnacle 90 not only make excellent forward-facing seats, they’re also the best on the market when it comes to boosters, which makes the buying process cheaper and simpler.

4. Car seats can’t be reused after a crash; they need to be replaced

We talked earlier about how car seats eventually expired whether or not they were used. However, if a car seat is used in its intended purpose, it definitely needs to be replaced, and it’s definitely expired. The reason here is the same as that for the bicycle helmet: you can’t always see structural damage with the naked eye. If there’s as much as a hairline fracture within the car seat, it could render it severely weakened in comparison to its designed strength, and this also applies for bicycle helmets.

5. Improvements in side impact protection, or the most vulnerable part of a car in an accident

I’ve written about all kinds of accidents and seen many more in my years on this earth, and the kinds that have always been most likely to lead to fatalities have been side impacts. There simply isn’t much material protecting you in a t-bone collision, which is why these collisions are the most likely to be fatal compared to frontal and rear impacts. With this knowledge, you want car seats that have side impact protection systems, such as those found in the Fllo, Foonf, Rainier, and Advocate ClickTight, which I think are the four best car seats for side protection available today in the United States.

6. New car seats are lighter, narrower, and easier to fit 3 across than older ones

This factor isn’t so much related to safety as it is to convenience, but if you’re anything like me, you appreciate anything that makes modern life a bit easier. And the fact is that newer car seats are lighter and narrower than ever before when compared to their height and weight capacities. Seats like the Fllo and Foonf are about as narrow as car seats get at 17 inches across, yet they can still rear-face to 50 pounds while making it possible to fit 3 car seats across in any vehicle. Check out the 3 across car seat guide to see which car seats fit in your car, minivan, SUV, or pickup truck. You might be surprised; these days, the size of your back seat doesn’t have to keep you from hauling your little ones safely.

7. New car seats are bringing new technologies like load legs and rear-facing tethering

Finally, while newer isn’t always better, it certainly is when it comes to car seat technology. For example, think about rear-facing tethering. There are only a handful of car seats that allow you to tether while rear-facing in the United States, even though rear-facing tethering does have a number of advantages in car seat safety. A few of those advantages include the ability to reduce rebound and rotational rotation, as well as the ability to limit head excursion, or the forward movement of a child’s head in a rear impact collision. These are significant features, and only seats like the Rainier, Pacifica, and a few others allow you to take advantage of them. But the number of seats that let you tether rear-facing is growing by the year, and buying newer car seats allows you to keep your children safer for longer.

In conclusion, while it might be a pain to go car seat shopping (although I hope my reviews of recommended car seats makes it easier), the truth is that you’re doing your children a favor by keeping up to date with their car seats. Car accidents are the primary killer of children in the United States, and for a few hundred dollars every 7 or 10 years, you can keep your children safer than ever. They’re worth it.

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Understanding Car Crash Physics and Biology

December 5, 2014 Mike

What happens when vehicles crash? If you read this blog, you already have a good idea of that. However, it’s worth looking into what happens inside the body too, as this is where the differences between the kinds of crashes you walk away from and the kinds of crashes you’re carried away from are made. This video from the IIHS is a neat one that discusses the internal biology of car crashes, and is an introduction to injury biomechanics.

Notable points include the references to the range of crash test dummies used, which range from a 6 month old infant (which, of course, should be rear-facing) to 95% male dummies (dummies that weigh more than 95% of adult males in the US).

The narrator also discusses some of the voluntary human experiments that were used to provide us with ideas of the kinds of forces human beings are able to tolerate, and how information from studies like those was used to create benchmarks that can be measured with the dummies to determine the likelihood of injuries. The importance of driving safely becomes more obvious here.

The idea of “three collisions” is also broached, with the idea being that collisions occur between the vehicle and what the vehicle contacts (e.g., a tree), the occupant and a part of the vehicle (e.g., the head against the steering wheel), and the internal organs against the body (e.g., the brain hitting the skull).

Watch it and look at some of the collisions I’ve written about, including head-on and side impact collisions. You might see them in a new light.

After watching, if you’re interested in keeping your children as safely protected as possible, make sure they’re in the right car seat. The best car seats for rear-facing are here, and the highest recommended car seats are here.

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3 Across Installations: Which Car Seats Will Fit In a Volkswagen Jetta?

December 3, 2014 Mike

The Volkswagen Jetta is one of the most popular European mid-sized cars sold today in the United States and the top selling VW across the globe. In the US, it offers a German competitor to standouts in the market like the Honda Accord, Subaru Outback and Subaru Legacy, Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, Nissan Altima, Chevrolet Malibu, Toyota Camry, and Toyota Prius V, as well as a cheaper alternative to its stablemates the Volkswagen Passat and Volkswagen CC. Available in both sedan and station wagon versions, the Jetta is frequently chosen by parents interested in safe ways of transporting their children and families in daily life. This post is about my efforts to find which car seats fit best in the Volkswagen Jetta, along with reviews of those seats and how they work in 3 across configurations.

In my experience, the best protected children in vehicles are the ones who rear-face as long as they can (ideally until 4!), and then forward-face as long as feasible (ideally until 8!), and then booster until they can use a regular seat belt (which typically happens between 10 and 12). These guidelines keep your children as safe as possible by keeping them in the right orientations as long as possible.

However, in order to make the best decisions regarding rear-facing, forward-facing, and boostering, it’s essential to know which car seats will and won’t work in your Jetta, which is precisely where this guide comes in. I rented several recent Jettas and went through my collection of car seats to find which car seats would and wouldn’t puzzle well in a Jetta. My results are below, and I’ll continue to update them as I find more seats to test.

You can access the complete 3 across guide for every vehicle here and the complete list of recommended seats here. Canadians can find recommended infant, convertible, combination, and booster seats here. 3 across car seat images are courtesy of Wikipedia.

2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 Volkswagen Jetta (A6, Typ 1B)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Diono Radian RXT (x3).

Diono Radian R120 (x3).

Diono Radian R100 (x3).

Chicco KeyFit 30 (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Combi Coccoro.

Clek Fllo, Diono Radian / RXT, Combi Coccoro.

Clek Foonf, Diono Radian / RXT, Combi Coccoro.

Tips and Tricks:

This generation of the Volkswagen Jetta is 182 inches long and 70 inches wide, which means it’s going to be a bit tougher to achieve a 3 across installation than you’d expect from a mid-sized car, which are typically around 72 inches wide or even wider. That said, it’s more than possible to get a good set of installations, especially if you’re willing to use 3 sets of seat belts instead of LATCH anchors, which tend to take up more room than seat belts.

These installations apply equally to the sedan and SportWagen (hatchback station wagon) version of the Jetta.

2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Volkswagen Jetta (A5, Typ 1K)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Diono Radian RXT (x3).

Diono Radian R120 (x3).

Diono Radian R100 (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Combi Coccoro.

Clek Fllo, Diono Radian / RXT, Combi Coccoro.

Clek Foonf, Diono Radian / RXT, Combi Coccoro.

Tips and Tricks:

The 2005-2010 generation of the Volkswagen Jetta is 179 inches long and 69 inches wide, or 3 inches shorter and 1 inch narrower than the following generation. What this means is that you’re going to have a bit of a rougher time in 3 across installations with this generation than you would with the current generation, and that practically speaking, it will feel like a small car instead of a mid-sized one on the inside. That said, it’s still possible to get a range of seats in if you use narrow ones and stick to the seat belt system for all installations.

If you’re going to buy one of the Radians above and use it to rear-face in this generation of the Jetta, I’d definitely recommend also picking up the angle adjuster. It’s a cheap but super functional accessory for reducing the space the Radians take up, and it will make driving or being a front-seat passenger much more pleasant.

1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Volkswagen Jetta (A4, Typ 1J)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Diono Radian RXT (x3).

Diono Radian R120 (x3).

Diono Radian R100 (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Combi Coccoro.

Clek Fllo, Diono Radian / RXT, Combi Coccoro.

Clek Foonf, Diono Radian / RXT, Combi Coccoro.

Tips and Tricks:

The 1999-2004 generation of the Volkswagen Jetta is 172 inches long and 68 inches wide, or 7 inches shorter and 1 inch narrower than the current generation. Once again, this generation of the Jetta will feel like a small car instead of a mid-sized one on the inside, and in this case both the EPA and IIHS classify it as a small car. That said, it’s still possible to get a range of seats in if you use narrow ones and stick to the seat belt system for all installations.

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3 Across Installations: Which Car Seats Will Fit In a Mercedes M / GLE Class?

December 1, 2014 Mike

The Mercedes M-Class SUV (since renamed the GLE-Class), which includes models like the ML350 and ML550, is one of the most popular mid-sized luxury SUVs sold today in the United States, competing with SUVs like the Acura MDX, Acura RDX, Audi Q5, Audi Q7, BMW X3, BMW X5, Volvo XC60 and Volvo XC90. Many professionals with families choose it when looking for a stylish yet safe mid-sized SUV for their families. I’ve written about it as one of the safest SUVs you can buy for side impact protection, and it’s about as good as it gets in that regard. It’s also one of the safest SUVs as measured by actual driver death rates.

Despite their maintenance costs, the M-Class SUVs represent a good choice for families with large budgets who are interested in transporting up to 3 children. I borrowed an ML350 this past week in order to figure out which car seats would fit well and which wouldn’t in one. However, before discussing what I found for 3 across installations, let’s take a look at some of the important elements of car seat safety, in terms of rear-facing, forward-facing, and appropriate boostering.

However, if you’re going to make the best use of best practices, you need to know which car seats will and won’t fit well in your Mercedes M-Class. That’s why I wrote up this 3 across installation guide, and why I write so many car seat reviews and test out my recommended car seats in every vehicle possible.

If you’re in a hurry and want the best, pick up 3 Clek Fllos or 3 Clek Foonfs for 3 across; they offer the highest rear-facing weight limits combined with the narrowest seat widths among mainstream convertibles. However, you can make things work with a number of other car seats, which I’ve described below. You can access the complete 3 across guide for every vehicle here and the complete list of recommended seats here. The Canadian recommended list is here. 3 across car seat images are courtesy of Wikipedia.

2016 Mercedes GLE-Class (W166)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Diono Radian / RXT (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Maxi-Cosi RodiFix, Britax Marathon G4, Diono Radian / RXT.

Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Parkway SGL.

Tips and Tricks:

The initial generation of the GLE-Class is the M-Class under a new name. As with the prior M-Class, it’s 189 inches long and 76 inches wide, which means you’re going to have a relatively easy time achieving 3 across installations with most car seats from a side to side perspective. As usual, try seat belt installations if you have trouble with LATCH setups, as you’ll have more room with seat belts than you will with LATCH anchors. Keep in mind that Mercedes doesn’t allow you to borrow outboard LATCH attachments when installing a seat in the center position.

2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Mercedes M-Class (W166)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Diono Radian / RXT (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Maxi-Cosi RodiFix, Britax Marathon G4, Diono Radian / RXT.

Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Parkway SGL.

Tips and Tricks:

This generation of the Mercedes M-Class is 189 inches long and 76 inches wide, which means you’re going to have a relatively easy time achieving 3 across installations with most car seats from a side to side perspective. As usual, try seat belt installations if you have trouble with LATCH setups, as you’ll have more room with seat belts than you will with LATCH anchors. Keep in mind that Mercedes doesn’t allow you to borrow outboard LATCH attachments when installing a seat in the center position.

2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Mercedes M-Class (W164)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Diono Radian / RXT (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Maxi-Cosi RodiFix, Britax Marathon G4, Diono Radian / RXT.

Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Parkway SGL.

Tips and Tricks:

This generation of the Mercedes M-Class is also approximately 189 inches long and 76 inches wide, which means that just about any car seat combination you can fit into the current generation will also fit into the prior generation, with very few exceptions. The rule about not borrowing LATCH anchors remains the same, and I’ll continue to recommend using seat belts to make the most of your space, although with this kind of width, you’re unlikely to need it.

1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Mercedes M-Class (W163)

Guaranteed 3 across installations:

Clek Fllo (x3).

Clek Foonf (x3).

Diono Radian / RXT (x3).

Combi Coccoro (x3).

Maxi-Cosi RodiFix, Britax Marathon G4, Diono Radian / RXT.

Diono Radian / RXT, Diono Radian / RXT, Britax Parkway SGL.

Tips and Tricks:

The initial generation of the Mercedes M-Class is 181-183 inches long and 72 inches wide, which means it’s about the width of a mid-sized vehicle. This will easily be the most difficult generation of the M-Class to achieve successful 3 across installations in, but it’s definitely still possible, especially when you consider all the car seats people are able to fit into mid-sized cars. My recommendation of turning to seat belts over LATCH installations will be most important here.

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35,000 Americans will die this year on the road. You don't have to be one of them. A car seat and car safety blog to promote best practices for families.