Hi,
Referring to the last messages
> I fail to understand your logic about the retaining catch... (I do get
the
> main thrust of your message; and will take it under advisement). The
catch
> would hold an adult ~150 pounds at least in a crash test, right? So why
not
> a 25 pound child in a 15 pound seat? What am I missing in this picture?
I hadn't been too sure about your seat catch until yesterday, when I looked
at the last Spitfire made which is permanently housed at Gaydon. Things
have clearly changed from the ones I knew of some years earlier and the
seat (the UK version anyway) is certainly far more substantial than its
predecessors. North American cars had completely different seats and the
type fitted to your car is one I have no knowledge of at all. I cannot
comment as to wether the seat runners are the same or not. I accept your
stats about the seat holding an adult but remember the adult is held in
place by vehicle BODY mounted seat belts and is only sitting ON the seat.
The seat therefore does not take the impact load of a body hurtling around
on it, the seat belts do. It seems to me that you are planning to use the
seat itself for mounting and securing your child. Where do the mountings go
for a baby seat - floor/body or on the seat itself? If just on the seat,
then, with the greatest respect I think you are making a big mistake and
putting your child's life at unreasonable risk.
> > She's concerned about the safety and stability of the car in an
accident.
I appreciate her obvious concern and I've seen the replies from others
posted to the list on this issue which comment fairly favourably to the
car's general strength. However, you'll agree its quite impossible to
predict the type and severity of an accident in advance. What sort of
accident did you have in mind? Is it going to be a three quarter rear or
front end bump or the Full Monty involving a truck hitting the car
broadside on at 30mph plus or a Caterpillar earth mover walking over it -
something in between or something completely different? None of us know
this in advance and therefore we cannot reasonably advise in your
interests. Whatever other 'listers' may have said, one cannot assume your
wife's future accident will be the same. Moreover, none of the designers of
the car (throughout its production life) had that level of 'predictability'
either. You can't engineer a product "to be safe in an accident" until you
can define the accident - and even then, it's a compromise.
As far as your car is concerned, only you know its actual structural
integrity. If it's had a full chassis up rebuild and only you'll know the
extent of new material within that re-build vis a vis that of a new car,
can you then assess its likely strength against the severity of a totally
unknown future event. It can never be anything else other than an 18 year
old little car in a world of much larger, heavier and faster cars - so in
the event of a 'coming together' it logically has a much reduced likelihood
of survival. The same goes for the occupants!
Having spent a long time yesterday, looking at the Gaydon car, which also
has a steel factory hardtop that would offer additional protection in the
event of a flip, I came away from it convinced there was no way I would put
an infant in a baby seat in a Spitfire until that child was older and
capable of responding itself to parental instruction. There is no way
whatsoever that I would put that baby seat as an attachment to the
passenger seat itself - regardless of whether the seat was of the North
American or European type. If you still decide to proceed, the baby seat
should be bolted to the floor with high tensile fasteners spreading their
load through large diameter washers on both upper and lower faces of the
host mounting area.
Sorry to be such a Job's Comforter, but I saw many badly smashed Spitfires
(admittedly of an earlier type) in my days at ST in London and in my view
they are not the type of car a mother can confidently install her baby with
impunity. I apologise for the length of this reply - but we are talking
about the preservation of a young life on the roads of the world which are
ever more populated by raving lunatics.
John Macartney
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