"Do I Look Fat In This Car Crash?"
Nicola Twilley blogs at GOOD that the super-sizing of the US citizenry is leading to a need for fatter crash-test dummies -- adult and child:
Current child safety seats for kids between one and four years old are tested up to a maximum of 40 pounds, while belt-positioned booster seats, which protect kids weighing more than 40 pounds, are only safe for taller children aged four and above. The problem is that overweight and obese toddlers are reaching 40 pounds by the age of two and a half, which means that they are too heavy for the forward-facing safety seats and too young and short for the shoulder-best booster seat.This issue was supposed to be addressed as early as 2002, with "Anton's Law." Anton Skeen was a 50-pound four-year-old who died when his seat belt failed in a car crash in 1996. The Washington Post reports that, although Anton's Law required a lifelike, heavier crash test dummy to be developed within two years, "the 78-pound dummy is still in development nearly a decade later."
Cut carbs! Leave a skinny corpse!
Can't they just wrap the existing dummies with meat?
Eric at March 29, 2011 2:44 PM
Why is it the government's responsibility to care more for these kids then their own parents care for them? It's a rhetorical question...
sara at March 29, 2011 4:26 PM
I wonder how much of this is really due to children getting fatter, and how much is due to the fact that NHTSA keeps jacking up the age range at which children have to be in car seats.
Cousin Dave at March 29, 2011 5:37 PM
Well, let me use this opportunity to point out that your physical fitness level means a lot more than being able to impress somebody.
If you're bigger (fatter), you make a better target for a thug.
Regardless of the size and type restraints, you are more likely to be hurt in a car or air crash.
Your cancer, diabetes and heart disease risks go up.
Smaller really can be better!
Radwaste at March 29, 2011 5:42 PM
What lies behind all this is that CrashTestDummies [mm, mmm, mmm, mmm] are 5th, 50th and 95th percentile analogues, so slides on a scale. The CTD's for children follow the same pattern, though it is also age-ranged. Plus the varients for heighth, are important.
Dunno, I think the papers belabor the obesity thing, because it is measuring extremes. The variability is astounding.
The 50th % guy CTD? 5'9" 170#... seems a bit short to me...
SwissArmyD at March 29, 2011 9:28 PM
Bah humbug. She should have checked her facts before writing her little post. There are many carseats that go past 40 pounds. For instance, the MyRide65 or the Nautilus, both of which harness to 65 pounds.
As Cousin Dave pointed out, the recommendations have changed over the years. Carseats used to be just something to hold the baby while mom drove. Now, the recommendations are much different.
I'm a huge carseat fan. And I do have a 40 pound 2.75 year old. He was 10.5 pounds and 23 inches at birth, and has a 6'4" dad and a 5'8" mom. He's not at all overweight for his height, which is that of a normal 4-5 year old.
Yes, we should not be fat, but there are more reasons than just "fat" for making new test dummies.
Evil HR Lady at March 29, 2011 10:09 PM
Eh pardon but I have a 32 pound 1 year old. He isn't really fat just heavy. Built like a line backer.. And yeah I think something fishy is going on with car seats. I think it has to do with selling more car seats and political donations.. And yeah some kids are fatter but they want me to turn my son back to backfacing in his seat. I would have to cut holes in the back of the van seat. OR he would have to sit with his legs bunched up.. I don't really care. He is in 24 month clothes. If we get stopped I plan..
JosephineMO7 at March 30, 2011 6:24 AM
"He's not fat, just heavy"
Hmmm...have you asked the pediatrician for an absolutely honest opinion?
a_random_guy at March 30, 2011 7:51 AM
I've heard that carseats for kids (not babies) are no statistically safer than harnesses.
NicoleK at March 30, 2011 8:03 AM
Yes I have.. He has some baby fat but he is really long bodied short legged.. Very tall and has biceps..He can lift the coffee table to look for a toy.. Some times we call him bam bam.. Just a strong heavy boy.
JosephineMO7 at March 30, 2011 8:40 AM
"He's not fat, just heavy."
Sounds like what Mrs. Cartman used to say....
Eric at March 30, 2011 10:28 AM
Sweet mother of Christ do I have to post a photo?
JosephineMO7 at March 30, 2011 12:40 PM
*****Can't they just wrap the existing dummies with meat?*****
Best laugh I've had all day.
Daghain at March 30, 2011 9:15 PM
My 3.5 year old is huge too. He's at the 97th percentile for height, and above that for weight (53 lbs). His 5 year old sister has similar percentages. Sounds like they're fat from the numbers, but the pediatrician just says I have "colossal" children, and to make sure they keep eating healthy foods.
To put it in perspective, my 20 year old son is 6'8", 260 lbs. Some kids are just plain big.
Kimberly at March 30, 2011 11:02 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/10/magazine/10FREAK.html?_r=1&ex=1189915200&en=641c83d4b0668293&ei=5070
Anton could have been saved if he'd worn a seatbelt. Fat kids fit better in seatbelts than in carseats.
NicoleK at March 31, 2011 12:45 AM
Kimberly,
That is the same thing I am dealing with.. My last 4 children are massive built to last boys.. The boy who just turned one is as tall as the 2 year olds I go to church with. I remember when he was 9 weeks old we went to the store and I saw another baby with her parents. I said "Oh a girl how old", thinking she would be maybe 3 months.. She was 9 months old and the same size as the baby..
And of coarse I have an 11&1/2 year old girl who is really tall and about as big around as a broom stick. 60 lbs.. But none of my kids are fat..
JosephineMO7 at March 31, 2011 4:04 AM
My nephew was the same size and almost the same weight at birth as my niece was at 20 mothns when he was born.
All the women in my familly are under 5'4 and 95% of the guys are over 6'2
lujlp at April 1, 2011 11:55 PM
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