# Securing loose items in the car



## thyme (Jul 17, 2003)

I was thinking about how carefully my kids and I buckle in each time, and wondering if we were being incautious by having loose items like metal Sigg water bottles, lunchboxes, and cell phones in the car while driving.

I pay such close attention to the sizing, fit, and use of the carseats, but I rarely give the other items in the car a second thought. Do I need to re-evaluate my safety?


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## myfairbabies (Jun 4, 2006)

I think small things like cell phones wouldn't be a big deal, but maybe a full water bottle (metal, I know how heavy my klean kanteen is) would. I don't know. When I was a teenager, I went to the funeral for a friend who was killed by a drum or guitar case or something musical like that, that flew forward from the hatchback and hit him in the head. Everyone else in the accident was fine. Also, it seems that things in the back that could fly forward would be more worrisome than something in the front seat. I was recently rear-ended (my car was stopped, someone hit us going 65 without braking) and my purse, kk etc pretty much stayed put in the front by me.


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## nighten (Oct 18, 2005)

Anything can become a projectile in a collision. The heavier it is, the more dangerous. I totally agree about securing "trunk" items in a hatchback/wagon.

And up front and in the backseat I try to ensure that nothing heavier than a piece of clothing or a stuffed animal is sitting out openly. I put stuff on the floorboards mainly, and keep a canvas bag in the car for temporary holding space for things like wipes containers, foodstuff, etc. I do have a kleenex box that sits on the passenger seat but I watched Mythbusters and they proved a kleenex box is not deadly.







So that's my one exception.

I would NOT leave something like a cellphone or a Sigg bottle sitting openly. My cellphone is clipped to my purse, and my purse is typically on the floorboard or wedged between me and my door. I tend to wedge things a bit -- like put the water bottle in the cup space in between my seat and the front passenger seat, then my sweater or the sling tucked over it. That sort of thing. Do those things protect completely? Probably not, but better than nothing at all.

I have a small car though, so the floorboard trick works really well. And things in the front seat would have a hard time maneuvering to the back.

The safest thing would be to have nothing loose in the car at all. That's unrealistic for me. So I try to minimize the heavier, albeit often smaller, items and ensure they're wedged or covered or strapped to something, etc., or shoved down in a bag on the floorboard.


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## sunnymw (Feb 28, 2007)

Yep. I took a 4hr trip awhile back and had all of our cups, snacks, etc in a cooler, and then put the cooler in the passenger seat and buckled it in to the seat belt.

If you don't have advanced airbags, they have things to secure bags on the back of the front seats (they clip to the headrests, I think?). They hold trash, cups, whatever. Better than nothing









We cleaned out our truck today and are trying to be more mindful of what's inside. I'm trying to find a way to secure the guitar equipment in the back of our SUV because I have two rear-facers RIGHT in front of that stuff, and haven't found a good way to fully secure it. And it's in there often


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## lifeguard (May 12, 2008)

My husband did a special seminar through his driving club & they had someone from department of transport come & show a bunch of videos & talk about safety. One of the shocking things they showed was a reconstruction of an accident where a kleenex box (yes, a lightweight cardboard kleenex box) became a projectile & killed someone from hitting them in the head. Since then I "try" really hard to keep everything in the trunk & will only let ds have small soft toys.


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## craftymom (Jun 27, 2005)

We have 2 station wagons. In mine--the one we use 90% of the time for multiple people--has the net between the back seat and the back. It can also be moved to behind the front seat, which I have done on trips with just myself (trips that typically involve...Home Depot).

Our other car has no net that fits, just a hard metal thing we don't have. I always make sure the attaching thingy that covers the "trunk" is attached (is there a name for that thing?) when I drive and have stuff back there. Big surprise, dh is much more cavalier.

I do worry about all the books in our backseat. But not enough to deal with the crying and whining that would result from removing said books. I would be much more likely to crash due to being driven crazy....

But I do buckle in not-in-use carseats.


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## theretohere (Nov 4, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *craftymom* 
We have 2 station wagons. In mine--the one we use 90% of the time for multiple people--has the net between the back seat and the back. It can also be moved to behind the front seat, which I have done on trips with just myself (trips that typically involve...Home Depot).

Our other car has no net that fits, just a hard metal thing we don't have. I always make sure the attaching thingy that covers the "trunk" is attached (is there a name for that thing?) when I drive and have stuff back there. Big surprise, dh is much more cavalier.

I do worry about all the books in our backseat. But not enough to deal with the crying and whining that would result from removing said books. I would be much more likely to crash due to being driven crazy....

But I do buckle in not-in-use carseats.

Yikes, yeah- we have a ton of books in the car. I guess I never thought about them being dangerous! My kids are too old to be OK with soft toys, too.


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## Mandynee22 (Nov 20, 2006)

The car seat tech yelled at me for it when I went. The car seat was installed perfectly, the fit was right, the straps were right and he said there's nothing worse than seeing a car seat used correctly and a kid seriously injured anyway because of junk being loose in the car.
I'm still working on it...


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## Jes'sBeth (Aug 30, 2004)

Yeah, I'm working on it too... Think of a major league baseball pitcher throwing a cell phone at your kid's head/ face. When I think of that image I get the cold sweats and start tying things down or at very least repositioning them so they won't hit my kids (like having them under the passenger dashboard when the passenger seat is empty.)

There was recently a collision reported on where the driver was killed by her laptop hitting her in the head.


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## Carhootel (Jul 16, 2008)

I seriously need to be better about this. we keep so much in our 'trunk' of our volvo wagon. The CPST I met with told me that you shouldn't have anything unsecured in the car that you wouldn't throw at your kids head.


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