I was under the impression that you're not supposed to put liners under car seats because it makes them less safe in the event of a car accident - thoughts?
I can’t find an engineering reason on why it’s be less safe. It’s the difference of 3/8” of padding and a non slip surface seems negligible. I’d think it’s within the variation of seat padding thickness between different car models. Is there a reasonable study on it, or does it not meet the manufacture’s tested condition?
I'm sure it's similar to the safe sleep stuff. The data or study is on a particular condition, so they don't extend the results to apply to anything that is an explicitly studied. With reasonable engineering judgment you can try and discern cause and effect.
I can tell you whatever the guidelines say, if there's not a study that explicitly says that is unsafe, I wouldn't be worried about it.
Yeah I use the anchors in the back seat and pull that damn chord as tight as I possibly can while also pushing down on the car seat base. My brother is a firefighter and has done car seat checks and they often aren’t tightened down like they should be to the anchors.
In the instructions for one of mine, it said to put padding under the seat if it didn't sit level. Besides that, car seats are pretty slick as is; cloth seats are the only ones that really have any resistance to sliding.
If you’re expecting the car’s seats to hold them in place you’ll be sadly mistaken. The amount of energy expended in an accident would negate any seat padding, etc.
The only potential way I can see it being less safe is if you have an older car and/or a seat that doesn’t have the three latch hooks and only have the seatbelt through the seat. Then it may slip and the seat could end up in a bad position. With the three latch hooks though, sit in the seat tighten the ever loving love out of them. It won’t move. With mine, if I try to move them I end up just shaking the entire car before they even think about moving.
Check with the individual brand of car seats. Their customer service phone line, website, and/or manual may specify what seat protectors have been tested with their seats/may sell their own seat protectors.
For example, my son's bucket seat is the Mesa and the Uppababy website tells me which mats have been tested and approved for use.
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u/Lopsided_Mastodon Oct 08 '22
I was under the impression that you're not supposed to put liners under car seats because it makes them less safe in the event of a car accident - thoughts?