Do you do coats in car seats?

[countdowntobaby2020]

I always thought coats in car seats were a big safety no so when doing the nursery run both my kids (3 and 1) travel in normal clothes with a blanket over the car seat. Then when we arrive at nursery it's literally straight in (I'm talking seconds) so I don't put the coats on, same on the return journey. I've stuck to this the last 3 years but on these last few days where it's been really cold I've just felt really guilty when literally every other child is getting out their car with winter coats on and I feel like they must think i'm crazy!
So just wanting a wider view, is this just a thing at my nursery or does everyone do big coats in car seats and I'm the odd one out?!

Like I said, we all have our own opinions

It’s not an opinion that it’s dangerous, it’s fact.

Yeah whatever love

I never even knew this was a thing. Ds's ( now late teens) always had coats on. Me too. Oh dear.

On that video, The straps on the coat were loose before they even started.

It still doesn't make sense. So a slim person is safer in a seatbelt than an obese person.

I'm slim without a coat but substantially bigger with a coat on.

@Brumbies it's the compression of the coat. I posted earlier about a friend who was in a car accident with 2 other people in the car. She sustained much more bruising and pain than the other passengers and was told it was down to the fact that she was wearing a thick coat and the other passengers weren't.

You also posted earlier that you catch cold when sitting in the cold, that might be your opinion but doesn't make it a fact

It “doesn’t make sense” to you because you’re not actually understanding. It’s nothing to do with body size - the extra element of the coat is what effects the fit of the seatbelt and it’s safety.

Sorry can someone explain to me what's the difference in terms of safety with having a coat of or not?
And would a thick cardigan cause the same level of concern?

So I'm reading comments and it seems that people think that a coat stops the seatbelt working? Huh?

I had no idea about this until my son and daughter in law told me recently. Their baby is 8 months. I never realised a similar risk applied to adults as I often wear a padded coat in the car 😕.

No, but i still put his coat on before going in.

No, the coat doesn't stop the seatbelt working. The coat causes the seatbelt to sit higher on the abdomen, over your tummy rather than over your pelvis.

It's designed to go over the pelvis as this is a strong area of the body. This is a good diagram showing where the seatbelt should fit on the body:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-Proper-positioning-of-shoulder-and-lap-belts-with-respect-to-skeletal-anatomy-B_fig1_332067111

In a car crash the car stops moving but the occupants continue to move forwards until they are stopped by something - hopefully a seat belt and airbag. Effectively this means that the occupant is pulled back by the seatbelt. As this happens very fast, it would feel like the seatbelt is "cutting into" the person - you have probably felt a mild version of this in an emergency stop or minor shunt.

If it's over your pelvis then the pelvis is solid and it stops the seatbelt. You will be bruised and perhaps grazed but nothing worse (at least in that area). Your bum will also not move much on the seat, which is good (the less you move before stopping, the less serious the "third impact" - where your internal organs hit the inside of the chest cavity). But if it's higher in that gap between the pelvis and the ribs, there's nothing hard there to stop it, it will cut in with force to the abdomen. You don't want that, because there are a lot of vital organs in that cavity that can be injured by a violent intrusion like a seatbelt in a car accident.

Unfortunately it is the case that obese people are less well protected by a seatbelt than thinner people because the seatbelt will fit higher on someone with extra belly fat as well. This is also studied and documented. It's also the case that seatbelts protect men better than women on average, especially shorter women. This is because until recently all the crash test dummies were based on an average male adult body from something like 1960. There are recently female dummies and dummies based on obese males, which should hopefully begin to be used in order to provide better protection for anyone who does not fit into the "default male" body type.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-62877930

We already know that seatbelts don't protect children as well as adults which is why children up to approx 10-12 years legally have to use booster seats. The booster seat solves the same problem. Without a booster, the seatbelt sits too high on a child's tummy in front of all the squishy delicate organs. With the booster, the belt runs correctly over their pelvis and can restrain them.

A thick cardigan does not usually cover the hips so doesn't have the same issue here. However if you have a very very young baby (like under 6 months) and the cardigan is very bulky compared to the size of their tiny shoulders then it can cause issues with the fit of the car seat harness (but not as much as a puffy coat or snowsuit would).

I just put a blanket on.

@Mumaway of what the dying in a crash because their seat isn't fitted properly or them being cold?! This forum continues to surprise me

My kids are 12, 10, 8 and 5 and still don't wear coats in the car. No bloody way.

It feels like I've always been the only one doing it at school and nursery too, but I've only ever had one comment about them being "freezing". I just gave a hard stare and said "but coats and car seats don't mix." The balls in their court to have a Google then.

I never put DD in a coat in her car seat

Very interesting thank you