The lowly vehicle seat cover. Often put on the seat to hide a rip or stain, or to protect upholstery for resale value, it can mean the difference between walking away from a crash or riding away in an ambulance. A bit melodramatic? Sure, I’ve been accused before, but think about it. When you put a seat cover over the top of your side torso airbags, will they deploy correctly in a side impact? In the following video, I address the issue with 3 different inexpensive vehicle seat covers on the market today.
Aw, c’mon, Heather, no wooden bead seat covers? Those really leave a fashion statement on the backs of one’s thighs, not to mention looking so cool in the car 😉
That’s a good point, Kat. I’ve never seen a custom back seat cover, but I’ve heard they’re tremendously hard to get on, so I imagine installing a carseat on something custom like that would be OK. Like I pointed out in the video, non-custom seat covers simply move around too much or are ill-fitting.
Great PSA ~ thanks Heather!
could you perhaps add info about why we don’t use them when installing carseats? when my own mother used to transport my kids, I removed hers or only put the seats in the vehicle seats that didn’t have them on.
hers were similar to the 2nd one, but SLIPPERY… like nylon, and lots of little hook loops to keep it on.
it’d be cool though to know what to look for in safe ones… for vehicles without the side airbags in the seats in addition to those with.
Hmmmm. Have you tried refreshing your browser? Perhaps YouTube isn’t liking me today–it shows that the video is public.
It’s still showing as private for me.
D’oh! It’s fixed now :).
Video is private?