lap belt question

MarieD wrote:
Is it safe for children out of a booster seat to use a lap-belt only?
Dh had to get a new car, and it's a 5-seater but the middle one in
the back has only a lap-belt. I have one child in a booster seat
still, but would it be safe for one of the other two to sit in the
lap belt? They're 11 and 13, both tall for their ages. I never really
thought about it before, because my van is all-shoulder belts and his
old car didn't have lap belts, either. Marie


According to my car seat tech friend, an unequivocable NO. She said
something about disembowling kids. I did not ask for the physics behind
that.

Clisby wrote:
Beth Kevles wrote:
Hi --

I didn't realize you could get cars with only lap belts anymore (in
any seats).

If you have a rear seat with 3 belts, how can all of them have a
shoulder+lap belt?


The center shoulder belt comes down from the ceiling. Our Subaru has it.


Clisby

Lap belts are inherently less safe than shoulder + lap belts.
They don't restrain the upper body. This means that the upper body
can whip into things (like the front seat -- think an angled
collision
rather than one directly head-on), and also that the upper body can
whip forward leading to a snap of the spine at the lap belt, and
parapalegia.

I'd investigate to see if a shoulder restraint can be added to the
car.
I wouldn't be surprised if it were possible for a fee.

--Beth Kevles
-THE-COM-HERE
http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the
milk-allergic Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be
construed as medical advice. Please consult with your own medical
practicioner.

NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the GMAIL one if you
would like me to reply.

toypup wrote:


"Clisby" wrote in message
m...
Ericka Kammerer wrote:
Clisby wrote:
Stephanie wrote:
Clisby wrote:

If you have a rear seat with 3 belts, how can all of them have a
shoulder+lap belt?

The center shoulder belt comes down from the ceiling. Our Subaru
has it.

Oh, OK. I've never seen that.

Some of them just come over the top of the seat,
rather than from the ceiling. Seems like quite a few cars
have shoulder belts in all seating positions now.


Could be. We have 2 cars, a 1995 and a 2004, and neither has it.

The 2004 car surprises me. Both of our cars have shoulder belts for
middle seats.


This is a station wagon, where the back seat lets all the way down; I
don't know whether an over-the-seat shoulder/lap belt combination is
feasible in that case. (Maybe it is - I've never even seen a belt like
that, so I can't judge.) I would guess a belt attached to the ceiling
would work.

Clisby

Clisby wrote in
:

This is a station wagon, where the back seat lets all the
way down; I don't know whether an over-the-seat
shoulder/lap belt combination is feasible in that case.
(Maybe it is - I've never even seen a belt like that, so I
can't judge.) I would guess a belt attached to the
ceiling would work.

my Honda Pilot has shoulder belts for 3 in the back seat & 2
in the 3rd row (which only has 2 seatbelts). the unused
shoulderbelts have receivers in the ceiling for when they
aren't in use, so they aren't in the way. i can fold down the
2nd and 3rd row seats & stuff about 10 bales of hay in the
back, with no belts in the way (i can only get 6 bales in
the CR-V)

lee
--
Last night while sitting in my chair
I pinged a host that wasn't there
It wasn't there again today
The host resolved to NSA.