Cars have changed since we were allowed to rattle around in back. They're made out of less steel and more plastic - which means that crashes are going to have a more dramatic impact on the occupants.
If I were to strap Charlotte in with the seatbelt provided in my car, and we were involved in an accident, one of two things are likely to happen. The seatbelt would either be entirely ineffectual, or it would snap her neck. The car and the seatbelt are designed for a 50th percentile adult male - 172 lbs, 5'9". My four year old is around 40 lbs and about hip height - why would I eschew a safety option designed for her? If I'm going to do that, I might just as well have cut to the chase, snapped her little neck at birth and saved ourselves the $35K we've spent so far on daycare.
Likewise, when I was a child and sitting in the front seat, there were no airbags in the car. As it is, I'm not terribly comfortable with the idea of what an airbag would do to ME. It's hard for me to find a seatbelt that doesn't ride up and sit across my throat. If she's sitting in the front seat, someone bumps us hard enough from behind to deploy the airbags, and it catches her on the chin - game over.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-23 05:35 pm (UTC)If I were to strap Charlotte in with the seatbelt provided in my car, and we were involved in an accident, one of two things are likely to happen. The seatbelt would either be entirely ineffectual, or it would snap her neck. The car and the seatbelt are designed for a 50th percentile adult male - 172 lbs, 5'9". My four year old is around 40 lbs and about hip height - why would I eschew a safety option designed for her? If I'm going to do that, I might just as well have cut to the chase, snapped her little neck at birth and saved ourselves the $35K we've spent so far on daycare.
Likewise, when I was a child and sitting in the front seat, there were no airbags in the car. As it is, I'm not terribly comfortable with the idea of what an airbag would do to ME. It's hard for me to find a seatbelt that doesn't ride up and sit across my throat. If she's sitting in the front seat, someone bumps us hard enough from behind to deploy the airbags, and it catches her on the chin - game over.