I just did a quick review of the California DMV site and some other safety links. I <think> that the biggest safety issue they all bring up is the problem of using Rear Facing infant seats on Rear Facing Vehicle seats, probably because of the way the infant seats are designed to work with the seat belt harness to direct the impact forces. If a rear facing infant seat is used "backwards" it could cause it to flip "heel over head" in a frontal impact.
This from the CA DMV site:
Any child under the age of six weighing less than 60 pounds must be secured in a federally approved child passenger restraint system and ride in the back seat of a vehicle.
A child under the age of six weighing less than 60 pounds may ride in the front seat of a vehicle when:
There is no rear seat or the rear seats are either side-facing jump seats or rear-facing seats.
The child passenger restraint system cannot be installed properly in the rear seat.
All rear seats are already occupied by children under the age of 12 years.
A medical reason requires the child to ride in the front seat.
there is a bit more here:
< article.html>
< article.html>
Pretty confusing!
Dave Richoux 2000 EVC
On Jun 6, 2008, at 1:38 PM, Lee Hart wrote:
Danielle Cummings wrote:
I have looked at the harness and a safety expert said that since the
rear facing seats do not have headrests that they still with the
harness would not be safe and the manuel states over and over NOT to
put any children at all in the rear facing seats and not to use the
tether anchors for harnesses!
The same headrest works for both front seats and the center rear- facing
seats. It seems to me that you would be safer in the rear-facing seat
than in the rear forward-facing seat. But I am not a lawyer, nor am I a
safety expert.
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