Car Seat Opinion

I have stayed away from the car seat issue because my opinion is far from typical. Recently, in this article, they found that 10 out of 12 car seats failed their testing. The tests were done about 5-8 miles above the federal requirement of 30 miles per hour. Let's hope that we're not driving any faster than 38 miles an hour if we get into a car accident.

Before I get onto my soapbox about car seats, the part about the article that bothers me the most was this quote. It was from the CEO of Evenflo, which is the maker of the car seat that performed the worst in the test.

"Over decades of doing testing, we know that unless every variable is strictly adhered to - from the way the seat is strapped in to the crash test dummy used - the variables can affect the result."

This doesn't make any sense! Now he is simply pointing the finger at us when in reality he needs to stand up and take the blame. Car seats shouldn't take an engineering degree to install and use properly! It shouldn't be the fault of the user when moms are trying their best to install those things properly it's just too complicated!

Now for my soapbox. For a long time, I've struggled with car seats in general. I understand the concept that it protects our children but I can't understand how it's humane to strap our children down to anything. If I strapped my child to the bed for 6 hours in my home, CPS would be out here the next day if someone found out. Even if I did it for 15 minutes, they'd take me to jail.

I do put all my children in age/weight appropriate car seats even though I don't quite agree with the concept. I also realize that they do save children's lives.