Small children & SMB

[LenS]

I googled some stats to chew on. The following are from several sources:

Kids in the back seat are 38 percent less likely to be injured in a crash.

"Among children ages 14 and under killed as occupants in motor vehicle crashes in 2001, 55% were not using safety restraints at the time of the collision."

• 99% of infants (0-12 months) were restrained
• 94% of toddlers (1-4 years) were restrained
• 83% of booster-age children (4-7 years) were restrained

Children left unattended in hot cars account for 24% of fatalities.

We analyzed several thousand repairable and non-repairable vehicles looking for a correlation between the point–of–impact and the total loss rate. Our analysis revealed vehicle impacts are distributed as follows, and more-or-less as expected:
Front 45%
Rear 29%
Side Impacts 25% (Left 13%, Right 12%)
Unknown 1%

[LenS]

The above tells me that 75% of accidents involve the front or rear of vehicle and that restraints that can protect in that direction would the highest priority.

Small kids have big heads relative to neck size/strength so head protection and restraints are obvious things you see in good car seats.

An RV in many cases has LOTS of stuff setting around or lightly attached. A rear end collision can and frequently does break the back of normal car seats. Will your gear resist this level of force and not become a missile that could crush or injure a small child (or an adult for that matter).

I am afraid that the more we use our RV the more lax we get about stowing things.

[kinewave]

I have the RB50 layout, and it works out real nice for us. We have a small baby, and a dog. Our SMB came with child seat restraints already installed (the previous owner ordered them with the build). Basically they are just drilled into the cross bar of the seat frame. If you're going to order your SMB new, they can put the restraints in. Ours has three so we can position the child seat on either side of the bench.

[wannaSMB]

To the original question, we have 2 year old twins and have a custom layout that includes 4 captains' chairs and a big bench seat in the back that turns into a bed. We really liked the idea of 4 captains chairs for the following reasons:

1. Reaching the kids while everyone is belted up. Having them right behind us to give a toy or a book or a snack is a huge help while driving.

2. Right or wrong, we perceived car seats in captains' chairs to be safer than putting them on a convertible bench seat.

3. We really like the idea of leaving the bed set up as a bed in the rear, and leaving the car seats installed. A big reason we got the SMB was to reduce as much "set-up" time and other overhead time that we could. Not sure where we would put the car seats (big Britax Marathons) if we had to remove them from the bench to sleep (since the dog sleeps in the front seat).


We do enjoy all of those benefits and would buy the exact same layout if buying today. That said, it provides for cramped living then we are not actually driving, since there is no open space like there is in a "50" layout. So I guess we're looking forward to when the kids are 8 and no longer in car or booster seats -- at that point our next SMB will likely be a "50" layout.

Hope that helps.

Jim

[Switchfoot]

Cool twins! Got 13 yr old identical boys ourselves. I second the 4 captain's chairs and a rear bench as the only way to go with 2 or more kids. If we put our 3 kids into one bench seat for more than 10 minutes it quickly degenerates into something out of a Three Stooges episode...

We tearfully had to give up our Westy Syncro when the twins were born because three car seats wouldn't fit in the rear bench and we couldn't find anyone who would install a 3rd captain chair (they quoted liability reasons). I have to admit I was getting tired of getting passed by bicyclists on hills and getting mileage like a V8.

A "50" layout with an extra captain's chair would work for us transportation-wise, but where to sleep 5 adult-sized people is our issue that prevented us getting an SMB.

Love the "moose van". Kids call ours "monster van" and plot crushing subcompacts while driving it to the local Big 5 for weapons to fight the nazi zombies when the world ends. Perils of playing too much COD4 on Xbox and watching too many horror flicks... Always trying to be a better parent, I suggest Wal-Mart might be a better choice as they have food and electronics too.

[outopawn]

Got ya both beat. I have six kids and four of them have the same birthday. Yep not kidd'n. I thought a SMB was only a dream until I discovered the Transformer. With the help of a member from this forum I found a used one hiding for sale in Hailey Idaho. A few days later I was on a plane and driving "Optimus Prime" back to Cali.

If you are not familiar with the Transformer it converts from a 9 passenger, to cargo, to seat 5 sleep 4 camper. Although not as nice as a "50" inside, it works perfect for my needs. When I take the whole crew I tow a trailer and when I can convince the boss that just the boys need to get away I put the bed module in. Life is good!!

Steve

[wannaSMB]

Wow Steve, we're barely keeping our heads above water with two! A tip of my hat to you.

I picked mine up used in Kalispell, MT, so I did a very similar "get acquainted" drive. Slept the first night just south of the MT/ID border, and woke to find a moose resting nearby. I told the girls about it on the phone, and it shall forevermore be the "Moose Van".

[outopawn]

Jim

Well just in case you want to keep those kids coming the transformer works well. I was very happy when I was able to get rid of those car seats. Five of those fills up a nine seater real quick. We had the standard twelve passenger E350 prior to my SMB. Now I do not look like I am going to the airport for a drop off. The kids named our SMB as well. Since it was a Transformer it had to be one from the Tranformer's movie. The obvious was the most popular, "Optimus Prime"

Maybe we should start a thread with names and how they got them!

BTW - I was in your town last weekend for a Water Polo Tournament -- I love SB

Steve

[Stumpalump]

I was in a bad rollover accident in October. It was a 2008 Jeep Jk Rubicon Jeep. We rolled 210' down a mountain. We free fell and landed on the back bumper bending both seats back. We endoed a few times in the rocks and landed on the wheels. God was with us. The reason I bring this up is because the second roll was an easy drop off about a small ledge onto rock. We hit on the driverside roof. The side impact was the one that tore me up. I ripped muscles all over and squished a disk. The big freefall on our backs was nothing in comparison or the rest of the end over end rolls. I would not put kids side mounted because the side hit was so damaging to us. Most wrecks are front and rear. Here is a link to a JK site if you want to see the picts:
http://www.jkowners.com/forum/showthrea ... s+in+4+low

[mamaupupup]

Hi there,
I'm the lucky wife of wannaSMB and Mom to the twins. I happen also to be an EMT (for search and rescue, not city-life) and have also heard/seen in training horror stories about side impacts.

When we researched car seats and "RVs" we came across two points to consider:
- statistically there are fewer crashes involving RVs (okay, but it just takes one...)
and
- many RV's have the seatbelts built into the plywood frames of the seats -- not into the frame of the automobile!!!

We chose captains chairs to give us a forward facing solution which is bolted securely into the frame...

We also get lazy about securing other items down...good reminder earlier in this thread. If we were really good, we'd crate the dog...

My biggest piece of advice: don't take your first SMB trip in November when the temps are sub-freezing, there's a freak snowstorm and you have no heat. We survived and have great stories from it...but boy was I questioning my "smart" idea to buy one of these things...