[Gettin'AVan]

I've been looking through this forum and have come across some posts regarding requirements for front vs rear facing car seat positioning. If I missed this tidbit I apologize but it seems to be little-known that in addition to infant seats being limited to 1 year and 20/22 lbs, there is also a length restriction. From www.carseat.org:

Place the child in the CRS to find out if it fits; you don't need a measuring tape. Manufacturers' instructions refer to the total height of the child in inches, based on particular categories in federal regulations. However, torso height is what determines whether the child is too tall for the CRS.

A forward-facing child's shoulders should not be above the strap slots, since it could increase head excursion. Some tall, thin children outgrow convertible seats before 40 lbs. and need a seat with higher slots. Fisher-Price Futura 20/60 and some combination child seat/boosters have higher slots. The top of the child's head may extend beyond the top edge of a forward-facing CRS, but no higher than the top of the ears, because of the risk of whiplash in a collision from the rear.

In a rear-facing CRS, the child's head should be at least one inch from the top to make sure the head will be fully supported as the CRS rotates toward the horizontal and the child "ramps" upward in a frontal crash.

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A friend told us about this and it took me quite awhile to find confirmation on the Century web-site. It was not made obvious (at least then) and it was NOT in the documentation that came with the seat. This was 8 months ago - maybe it's common knowledge now.

Again, sorry if this has been covered - I didn't do an exhaustive search.

Dave

[This message has been edited by Gettin'AVan (edited 10-19-2001).]

 

[adam1991]

Great information. Thanks! I'm going to double-check right now, since you reminded me of it all.

 

[CPSDarren]

Just remember that these are suggested "best practice" guidelines. It is possible some manuals will have more conservative limits, which should then be followed over these rules of thumb.

 

[Gettin'AVan]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by caviller:
Just remember that these are suggested "best practice" guidelines. It is possible some manuals will have more conservative limits, which should then be followed over these rules of thumb.</font>

Oh, no question about it and I didn't mean to imply otherwise. I was just appalled that my manual had no mention of it at all and most friend/parents I talk to aren't aware of it.

 

[CPSDarren]

Hehe. Your post was accurate, and didn't imply anything of the sort. My comments were aimed at any future readers, just to clarify the point for anyone that may have inferred otherwise