Choosing a Car Passenger Seat

Choosing the right car passenger seat for your child can help keep your little one safe. While laws vary by state, there are several things to look for when choosing a seat.
Rearward-facing
Putting your child in a rearward-facing passenger car seat is the safest way to keep your child out of harm’s way in an accident. However, it is important to remember that your child’s torso and head can vary in length and weight.
Front-facing seats concentrate the force of a collision on the child’s chest and head. This can cause a child’s head to strike the door or other intrusions during impact.
On the other hand, rear-facing car seats can reduce the risk of fatal injury by spreading the crash forces over the back of the seat. They also offer a great advantage in side offset impacts.
Rear-facing car seats are especially important for young children. Their spine and necks are not developed enough to protect them from spinal cord injuries. Even the smallest of kids can suffer paralysis or death from a stretched spinal cord.
Similarly, the risk of leg injuries is significantly higher when a child is forward-facing. The legs are thrown forward, which can lead to a leg injury in the event of a crash.
In addition, rear-facing car seats have more of a safety advantage when the vehicle is flipped over. The back of the seat becomes an insulating cradle, which prevents contact between the head and the interior of the car.
Adjustable lumbar mechanisms
Several patents disclose a lumbar support mechanism that adjusts vertically and horizontally. However, many of these designs have limited adjustment ranges. In addition, prior art designs are complicated to manufacture and limit the potential for different-sized users. Therefore, these inventions provide a lumbar support system that allows quick readjustment of the lumbar position.
In the first configuration, a lumbar support member is mounted on a rigid support frame. This support frame is rigid enough to resist deformation, and the lumbar slat is made of a rigid material such as steel or high-strength plastic. The slat is adapted to assume various radii of curvature to accommodate the needs of a particular seat user.
A second configuration provides a narrow flexible support member that bows outwardly under compression to provide lumbar support. The support member is adapted to travel along a track and may be adjusted independently in both vertical and horizontal directions. The vertical portion of the flexible support member bows forward when tension increases, and bows backward when tension decreases.
A rigid seat back frame is disposed between the flexible support member and the support frame. The support frame may be a vertical travel track that rides on the seat back frame. A cable 70 is attached to the seat back frame and passes through holes 42 and 44.
Child passenger safety laws vary by state
Fortunately, all 50 states have child passenger safety laws that protect children and make the roads safer. However, these laws are varied by state, and the differences between them are significant. Throughout the decades, states have refined their policies and made them more stringent. The first wave of legislative changes occurred from 1982 to 1984. During that time, empirical evidence was available that supported the use of child restraint devices. Despite the evidence, the legislatures of many states were slow to adopt the evidence. In the end, each state modified its laws on average six times over a thirty-year period.
The second wave of legislative changes happened around 2004 and 2005. This wave of legislative activity related to specifying which child restraints were required based on age and weight. Some of these changes involved rear seating.
Rear-facing car seats provide the most protection for the head and spine. Rear seating is not required in most vehicles, but it is recommended. The ideal position for children is in the back seat until the child is three years old, at which point a forward-facing seat or booster seat is appropriate.
All occupants in the front or back seat must use a seat belt. Depending on the age of the child, some states allow them to sit in the front seat if it is not used by another passenger. In addition, all children under the age of 12 must be properly restrained in a child passenger restraining system.
Choosing the right car passenger seat for your child can help keep your little one safe. While laws vary by state, there are several things to look for when choosing a seat.
Rearward-facing
Putting your child in a rearward-facing car passenger seat is the way to keep your child out of harm’s way in an accident. However, it is important to remember that your child’s torso and head can vary in length and weight.
Front-facing seats concentrate the force of a collision on the child’s chest and head. This can cause a child’s head to strike the door or other intrusions during impact.
On the other hand, rear-facing car seats can reduce the risk of fatal injury by spreading the crash forces over the back of the seat. They also offer a great advantage in side offset impacts.