rear facing in a convertible? (not a rf vs ff thread)

[Kalah]

So I'm not sure what to do here and I need some advice. It's not about FF vs. RF in general, but about which to do in a convertible car. My mom got a nice car seat for Kili (I'm living with her now so she'll be in it a lot!) and it can go in rear facing or forward, she's the right weight to go either way for another 10lbs. I always wanted to keep her rear facing, and am still planning on going ERF when I get my own car. My mom installed the seat with the help of her fireman friend before I got here, and we both agreed we wanted it to go rear facing, but I got here to find she put it in forward facing. She had realised since her car is a soft top convertible it might not be safest to have Kili's head under that. I would hope the top of the car seat would protect her head from hitting anything, but things could easily puncture through the roof and into her head! The car has a steel roll cage that pops out if the car senses it's off balance and may flip, so now with her seat facing forward there is a roll bar right near her head that would protect her. So now I'm just plain confused on which way is best for this situation..
Forward facing she's protected by a roll cage and car seat but her neck would still be vulnerable (from flying forward in a crash).
Rear facing her neck is safer but she wouldn't be protected by the roof of the car since it's fabric..
What would you do here?

 

[sam1984]

not sure but maybe look in the car manual and see what it says or speak to your hv. i am sure they have had other people with convertibles have this same problem

 

[Kalah]

The car manual recommends forward facing, but most people say they should go forward facing as soon as the weight limit is reached anyway so I have a hard time believing the people who write the manual actually know anything about child safety, iykwim!
I don't have a hv anymore since I moved back to the US =( Don't even have health insurance
That reminds me I need to change my info on here

 

[sam1984]

if your car manual says ff and lo is at weight i would go for ff.
i am in uk and i dont know of many people who do use erf. just make sure the harness is properly adjusted

 

[ke29]

I would guess that LO is still safer rear facing as the likelyhood of an accident to the roof singularly would be quite slim. They say rear facing is safer for rear and side collisions so I would stick with rear.


PS having a role cage bar near her head wont necessrily protect her anymore whichever way she faces as it should support the whole roof rather than just the areas around the cage. Hope that helps.

 

[nicole_]

gunna have to agree with your mum here i think
i had a kind of convertible and it makes the cars structure so much weaker. i had a frontal crash and even that was horrific .
if those bars were to fail and the car flipped, i dont think a car seat would protect a baby that much from a roof squashing down?

 

[aliss]

Call the vehicle manufacturer and the carseat manufacturer to confirm Perhaps they can clarify whether you can keep her rear facing.

 

[binxyboo]

I am a big advocate for ERF, but I think even I would have LO FF in a convertible for the same reason as your mum.
In a crash, it would be like having just a tent to protect your head!

 

[stardust599]

I would say FF too hun. Just make sure she is properly strapped in, the carseat is very secure and you always drive safely xx

 

[lisaf]

I'd actually vote for RF ... the likelihood of a rolling crash is SO much less than a standard rear-end or head-on collision.

Just this last march they changed the recommendation to 2 years here in the US for RF because they decided that 1 year was 'dangerously early' for FF (not sure if its a law yet or not)

 

[Kalah]

Thanks for all the replies ladies, keep em coming! I'm still trying to make up my mind to what to do, for now it's still FF since it's a huge pain to take it out (there's some latches that go underneath the top in some hidden compartment and we have to mess with the roof to get them off). I tried doing a google search for "car seat in a convertible" and "car seat in a soft top car" but the first came up with all "convertible car seats" (as in the actual type of car seat) and the second just came up with car tops.. My mom does the driving and I wouldn't say she's the safest, she's the type that zones out randomly and tries to switch lanes at the last minute because she wasn't paying attention.. It's actually really annoying but I can't drive so there's no other choice. I'm always in the car too though so at least that's an extra set of eyes =)

 

[lisaf]

I think the highest risk for flipping is at high speeds.

If you're interested, this is a forum full of car-seat safety experts: https://www.car-seat.org/
Though they do tend to be all ERFs (extended rear-facing) .. and I even saw one woman who had her kids in bicycle helmets in the car. But they are friendly and happy to help explain stuff about car seat safety.

 

[mommyof3co]

I say RF but I would post this on car-seat.org which is full of certified techs and they'll be able to tell you for sure which is safest

 

[Kalah]

Thanks! I'll have a look at that forum right now and see what they think