It's Side-Impact Sunday!

OK, really, someone just showed me some awesome Youtube vids of my kids' car seats. They're only about 10 seconds each, but totally get the point across. They're slow-motion, but the crash tests themselves were carried out at a realistic speed (30 MPH, I believe).

What you also need to know is that US car seats are not required to be tested for side-impact safety, only front-impact. That doesn't make sense to me since side-impact crashes are the most deadly, statistically speaking, but the car seat industry in the US largely ignores that. I don't think that's right, but nobody asked me what I thought of it, so it is what it is. In Europe, crash tests are conducted for front and side impacts before car seats are approved for sale, and for that reason, many American moms buy German or Swedish car seats, even though they are illegal to use in the US. It's not like anyone ever gets caught for that. If you get pulled over, the cop will look and see that your kids are in something resembling a car seat, and then go on about his/her business. Even if you TELL them, "I bought my car seat in Germany." they never ticket you for it, so it's a viable option for many parents in the US these days.

I like American car seats, though, and most of all, I like Sunshine Kids. They're a good company, although being based in the Pacific Northwest, the company's name is rather ironic (they don't get much sunshine up there!). They are the only company giving the people what they want these days. They make steel framed seats, with the highest rear-facing and forward-facing weight limits on the market, and a shell tall enough to actually make it work. The tall shell is very important since a 45 pound rear-facing weight limit would be no good if the car seat is too short to fit an average-sized 4-year-old, with at least an inch of shell above the top of the head. A lot of other popular manufacturers have begun testing their seats for high rear-facing weight limits, and released 40 pound RF limit seats, but they're too short to be functional much past the age of 2 unless the kid is very petite (for them, it works fine, but most kids are average sized, so I don't think it's functional across the board).

Another huge reason I love Sunshine Kids is that again, they give the parents what we want. They release their crash test footage, AND they are the only American manufacturer who puts their side-impact protection technology to the test! I've always been big on side-impact protection since side-impact crashes are so dangerous, but it's always been a big crap shoot because most companies in the US don't even test their seats for side-impact effectiveness since there's no standard for it. They also never release their crash test footage and results. Any crash test footage you see with any seats other than Sunshine Kids, is unofficial, and probably part of university research, not car seat manufacturer research. Sunshine Kids tests their seats in side-impacts, though, and here are the videos of my kids' seats in side-impact crashes.


Erin's booster:



This is the predecessor to Orren's seat. Really, the main difference in Orren's seat and this one is that Orren's rear-faces to 45 pounds, while this one does 40, and Orren's can use LATCH to 80 pounds while this one can until 48. These differences to not affect the crash results at all. The fact that Orren rear-faces while this dummy is forward-facing makes it a slightly different result than what we'd have since Orren's body is cradled by the car seat shell, and would not move about nearly as much in a side-impact crash, but I think this video still gets the point across that this is a damned effective seat.




Side impact protection: It's not just for Europeans. Consider it when purchasing your child's next car seat, and just because they're in a booster doesn't mean you can forget about it! In fact, if you ask me, it's even MORE important when they're in a booster since they're less protected for lack of a harness. Sunshine Kids and Recaro are the only two brands readily available in the US that have been tested in side-impacts.