I became interested in child passenger safety when my oldest son was starting to outgrow his Century Smart Fit infant seat, or maybe it was just to heavy to carry him in the baby bucket. That was 10 years ago, in early 1999. I originally bought a Century Smart Move and could not get it installed rear-facing in a Saturn SL2 sedan. I didn’t realize at the time that the Smart Move was among the most difficult seats to install and the SL sedan was among the more difficult vehicles. Combined, it was a combination that baffled an engineer to the point where I wondered how vehicles and child seats could be designed to be so incompatible.
The cure? A Britax Roundabout. In the Zodiac pattern. Silky smooth push button harness adjuster, no-twist straps, rear-facing lockoffs, and a tether that could be used rear-facing. Worked like a magic charm, even in a vehicle known to be problematic because of a small back seat with sculpted, anti-submarining seat cushions.
Here’s a blast from the past. Some of my earliest CPS advocacy from 1999. It was a usenet newsgroup message in response to a troll who told someone to either put a child in the front seat or have aftermarket seat belts installed because they were having trouble installing a child seat. Seems kind of funny now, except that the troll could have killed someone else’s child with such bad advice :/
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.autos.makers.saturn/browse_thread/thread/e5d09506e2d36fc
There’s always someone out there giving poor or even dangerous advice because they think they know better than a consensus of experts! From there, I decided to share what I had learned, eventually with a focus on the new LATCH system. I joined my local Safe Kids chapter and became a tech a few years later in 2001. Here’s a glimpse of an early version of my first website on the topic, also in 2001:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010428010837/http://www.car-safety.org/
Sadly, today’s version of the website doesn’t look any more sophisticated lol. Any web developers interested?
I started getting interested in CPS issues in 2000. My nephew weighed 38lbs at 2 years of age and had some other special medical/developmental issues (he was riding in a SmartMove too). My sister asked me to do research for her (I was still in high school) and pretty much the only option was the Fisher Price Futura (the Laptop was just coming out but he had a g-tube so it wasn’t an option for us). I found SafetyBeltSafe USA and emailed Stephanie T. to confirm that the Futura was basically the only “seat” option. We ended up with the shield version. I took an English class at the community college my senior year of high school wrote a paper on why the state of Iowa should improve their child restraint law. While doing research I met the CPS veteran in my community and she encouraged me to get certified so I did at the age of 18 in 2002! I’m still a tech (I’m proud that I didn’t let my cert. lapse in college). I’m now a music teacher with curb duty every day…ugh! I currently am trying to get a Roosevelt for that same nephew at the age of 10.5 years–we just got all the letters from therapists, doctor, and the prescription, I’m going to throw in a letter too–now to see if insurance/medicaid will pay for it! That was long, I can’t believe I’ve been a tech for almost 7 years!
Kyle David Miller – because of Kyle, I am a tech.
Oooh! I always loved the Zodiac pattern. My friend had a Zodiac Freeway.
I was looking back at some of your “earliest CPS advocacy” and I nearly choked on my drink when I saw this post:
“I just put the kids in the trunk. My son cried for a week but eventually grew used to being in there. My daughter is only one month so she should have no problem getting used to the trunk. I dont know what I will do when they get big, I may get a SW2.”
I get that he was just trying to be funny (I hope) but it still makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
Saturn S-series ownership and their associated installation challenges also contributed to my interest in child passenger safety, specifically a ’97 SW1 wagon and ’00 SC1 3-door coupe we owned when DD1 was born. (I also remember that particular poster on the Saturn Usenet group). I didn’t have the sense to get a Roundabout until we had used several convertible seats after DD1 outgrew her infant seat, and had replaced the SW1 with a Saturn L100. The L100 was much more carseat installation friendly in comparison to the S-series, but the Roundabout was truly an ease of use and installation marvel.