The History of Car Seats

Kirsten hooks up the car seat.
I can’t figure out how to do it.

It seems pretty complicated being a parent these days. First of all, you need so much equipment. Car seats, for example. We never had one. Linda and I are of the pre-car seat era, not quite horse and buggy, but...old. When I got out of the Air Force in 1968 we drove from Florida to Everett in my ‘63 Ford Falcon with Noble in a kind of a basket sitting on the back seat. He was five months old. Shawn was five years old and roamed the back seat at his leisure. I don’t even recall if the Falcon had seat belts. If it did, we probably didn’t use them. The big car seat push didn’t come until the seventies.

A quick comment on the ‘63 Falcon. It was a piece of junk and quite possibly ruined my life, in addition to being unsafe at any speed. You simply can’t be a dashing Second Lieutenant driving a ‘63 Ford Falcon. Not possible. I had very few repeat dates. One ride in the Falcon was enough for most girls. Linda didn’t know about the Falcon until after we were married. And, of course, she tried to get an annulment after she saw the thing.

I’m glad that the babies are in car seats although every trip these days is akin to getting astronauts ready to blast off. Car seats are good.

And they work. Recently, a young gentleman attempting to flee arrest gave a car seat the ultimate test:

Suspect Throws Baby Out of Car
9/14/2004

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- A man threw his fiancée’s 8-month-old daughter out of a car as he fled police after being accused of domestic violence.

The girl, strapped in a car seat, was unhurt but the man later was fatally injured in a crash. Dana Bettin, 23, died Sunday, three days after the dramatic highway chase that ended when he crashed his fiancee's car into an unoccupied squad car.

At one point, he slowed down, opened the car door and dropped the baby in the car seat onto the highway, sending it tumbling toward the middle of the roadway.

"As the baby was flying toward me I noticed that she was crying very hard and looked scared," Wisconsin State Patrol Sgt. David Catalano said.

"Fortunately she was seat-belted into the child seat so that as it slid forward on the highway and then rolled over she escaped without any injuries," he said.

The man at first tried to put the baby out of the car on the shoulder, but the door car was in his way. He eventually pulled back into traffic and pushed the baby out as he was accelerating.

So, it’s pretty clear to me that I really need to learn how to work the buckles on those car seats.

Comments

[Kirsten]

Oh Randy - you will get the hang of the car seat latch sooner or later. They are tricky. And must be so little Coler hands cannot UNlatch it. Luckily he is not slipping his arms out from the straps. (Surprisingly) Knowledge of car seat safety is great. I can't imagine any of my guys not being in one. Although, I'll say the age and weight requirements are high. I believe they suggest, if not the law, that a child need be in a booster 'til age 8 or 100 lbs. Well sheesh - Forrest is 100 lbs. That would be silly. Anyhoo, Linda liked you in uniform so she didn't care about your untrendy wheels. Lucky you!

[Wheel Alignment Equipment]

If you can afford to buy a premium car seat, priced above $200, expect additional features, such as an anti-rebound bar at the foot of the seat that limits the amount of movement during a crash. Other features that bump up the price include cushier fabric, accessories such as a little boot around baby's feet, and a larger canopy.