My Child Car Seat Rant

Technological advancements in this day and age amaze me on a regular basis. My phone knows to go silent when I’m in a scheduled meeting, I can turn on my home alarm system from another country, I can start my van with a push of a button while sitting in my living room… so why haven’t kid’s car seats evolved in the past 25 years?  Other than to get more expensive...

I distinctly remember the process of buying a car seat for our first born…because it was anything but simple.  It’s not just a seat…it’s a “travel system”.   Is the seat also to substitute as baby carrier? Does the seat/carrier need to be compatible with the stroller? Can a base be bought separately to go into a 2^nd vehicle? What is the weight limit…in other words how long will the seat be usable? Once the seat is too small does that also render the $600 stroller useless? And on it goes…  So while all these choices must be made and they all come with a sizeable price tag, one would think the experience is all good going forward?  Well, from my experience no…so yes this is a bit of rant…

In Canada we are legally required to have car seats, the hospital where my son was born would not release our baby until a nurse verified we had an adequate car seat installed in our vehicle.  I don’t really have a problem with that,  I want my kids to be as safe as possible while in the car.  But why are these seats such a pain in the a$$ to install and use? 

I consider myself somewhat mechanically inclined. I have built decks, installed sinks and taps in my house, installed car stereos, snow tires, changed oil, head lights , spark plugs etc. My van has “Stow n’ Go’ seats, a prime example of engineering at its’ best.  Follow 4 clearly labelled steps and voila, a seat is usable or folded into the floor.  But in comparison, installing car seats is frustrating and primitive.  Initially I thought this was perhaps an anomaly to the one brand we chose, and my ineptness. But after purchasing 2 more seats of various brands, and reading on-line statistics suggesting up to 2/3’s of car seats are incorrectly installed, this is clearly a common problem. If so many users are struggling…it’s bad design.

The installation instructions are about as useful as those from my last IKEA purchase.  Why is the strap used to attach to the seat anchors only adjustable on one side? I’m not a small guy but apparently I have to climb on top of the seat, perform some physical contortions, than pull with all my might with the hope of actually getting this thing tight. No wonder there are car seat clinics and professionals charging to install these seats. I’ve spoken to Police officers who have said they come across many improperly installed kid’s seats. Is it really the best our engineers can do…to suggest I use a rolled up towel or swim noodle to place under the seat to try to compensate for seat angle? Is that what they do with the space shuttle launch to get the projection just right? Just roll up a towel and stick it under one leg? Sigh…

Now that the seat is installed could we perhaps work on a harness that can be buckled twice in a row without the straps magically twisting?  And just maybe have a buckle that doesn’t require herculean strength to release? I understand it needs to be kid proof but could we perhaps find a happy medium?

And while we are on the topic of the harness, how about inventing one that will work with a snow suit? In my part of the world -20 is not uncommon, but now I’m supposed take the kids snow suit off before putting them into the car, while not wasting energy by letting the vehicle idle to warm up.  Seriously?  We can do better….

Perhaps your kids are incredibly coordinated or you don’t let them eat or drink in the car, but in our case the car seats get dirty from spills and accidents.  When I looked at the skin or cover I saw wonderful elastic straps holding it in place on the plastic frame. Silly me thinking this meant I could remove the seat cover and simply throw it in the washing machine. But after removing the seat from the car to achieve said cleaning, I discovered the seat cover could almost be removed…but not quite. Yep that’s right. Not only could I NOT remove the cloth cover for cleaning….I now had to reinstall the seat!

Now I understand the importance of expiry dates on cheese and bread. But having one on my car seat seems to cross the line on the nanny state front.  I get that newer is often better, but you can’t legislate common sense.  Yes if the seat is damaged or worn it should be discarded. But the law lacks logic and is a little baffling. I can put the kid’s seat into a 20 year old rust bucket of a car, as long as the seat has not passed an arbitrary date stamped onto the plastic? 

Okay, so perhaps I have embellished my anguish and yes these are clearly first world problems. For the record, I continue to religiously use the seats for my daughter. Thankfully my son is now at the booster seat phase. But here's a shout out to engineers… who’s up to the challenge to make these things a little more user friendly? Beuler? Bueler?