Middle seat in Back of Car safest for Child?

[pennypincher]

I've noticed for a while that both the seat belts in the middle seat of our cars(Hyundai+Ford) only go across the lap.As my child normally sits here I wondered why all the other seats had both a lap restraint and and shoulder/neck restraint.If this(Lap only restraint) was the safest way to restrain a passenger then surely all seats would have the same restraining mechanism.Both our cars are 7 and 9 years old so maybe there are changes in all of the newer cars,if so I'll be upgrading.I know the middle seat is the safest when restrained but surely you need the neck/shoulder restraint as well?In a crash all the force would be only dissipated across the childs waist,this can't be good compared to shoulder and waist restraint?Has anyone else noticed the same in their cars.....?

 

[Kiddo]

No kids myself but anyone I know always puts the child seat in the centre.. It always seemed to me that parents thought the most likely crash was to either side rather than being rear ended. hence putting baby in the centre

 

[NHG]

When my friend and I went to the information evening held by mothercare (we went in waterford about 2.5 yrs ago) we were told that the safest place for a car seat is behind the passenger seat.

 

[orka]

That's true - passenger side is safest. The severest accidents tend to be head-on at high speed with cars coming in opposite directions so drivers side is most dangerous in that situation. High impact side-on are realtively rare. We always put our baby seats behind the passenger.

And back to original Q, lap and diagonal belts are safer than lap only because the stress is spread over more belt so it doesn't cut in as much, and the upper body is held back more so there's less chance of head/neck injuries.

Newer cars do seem to be moving to having 3 lap and diagonal in the back rather than a lap only in the middle - probably for safety reasons.

 

[HighFlier]

In older cars the middle seat belt was lap only because there was no anchor point for a 3 point belt. In newer cars the middle belt is anchored from the roof or through a loop back into the boot. I vaguely recall a report that this might be compulsory on new cars.

The middle seat is only the safest if the child seat is firmly secured. Some child seats need a 3 point belt to work properly. In the event of the child seat becoming dislodged in a crash due to incorrect fitting then the middle of the back row is by far the most dangerous seat in the car.

 

[pennypincher]

Thanks for all the feed back I still find it amazing that the car manufacturers were allowed to put a safety belt mechanism in the middle seat of older cars that was less safe than all the other seats!I would have though they would have needed to warn you of the dangers...