Why can't they make front seats child foot proof??

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sun 26 Aug 2012 21:00
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - grimep

I can remember being told to stop kicking the back of the drivers seat almost 40 years ago, and now I'm on the receiving end. After 4 hours of repeating "Don't kick the back of my seat" I finally lost my rag and shouted, resulting in a crying child on top of everything else. Surely it wouldn't be hard to put some plastic sheet inside the back of the chair to stop the kicks reaching my back??? I'd rather buy a car with that sort of feature than stop/start tech, satnav, LED lights etc etc etc..... How hard can it be?

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Sun 26 Aug 2012 21:55
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - daveyjp
A kicking child is a bored child. Interact with them and they don't do it.
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Sun 26 Aug 2012 22:06
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - RT

Some cars suitable for families have hard plastic on the back of the front seats - the other answer is a bigger car with full adult legroom in the back.

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Sun 26 Aug 2012 22:47
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - grimep

Yeah I felt bad for shouting, but there's only so much interacting you can do on a 4.5 hour journey.

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Sun 26 Aug 2012 23:14
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - gordonbennet

Well done for putting sprog in its place, prisons are populated by and probation officers have jobs for life because too many of those who needed some of that at the right time never received it.

It wouldn't matter what material the backs of the seats were covered with, the resulting thumping on the seat would drive me up the wall too.

Adult in charge, child does as its told...none of this sandal wearing tail wagging the dog rubbish.

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Sun 26 Aug 2012 23:39
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - bathtub tom

I removed the rear window winders on one car because the buffeting at motorway speeds gave me a headache. The kids knew I wouldn't stop on the hard shoulder and it would be a couple of miles before a junction where I could stop and remonstrate.

I once abandoned a holiday journey after a few miles because of the bickering from the back seat. A couple of hours at home sorted them.

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Mon 27 Aug 2012 12:46
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - Bobbin Threadbare

When I was very small (mid-80s) I had a toy steering wheel which had suckers to attach it to the window. Hours of entertainment. I suspect my dad enjoyed holiday driving less as time wore on and there were three of us in the back of the car. And having to listen to the same Roald Dahl story tapes over and over again......We never kicked his seat, because he told us he'd leave us at home if we did.

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Mon 27 Aug 2012 15:19
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - Graham567

Just do what i have done and fit dvd screens in the back.The last journey of two hours was in total silence while they had their headphones on and watched a seperate movie each.

They replace the leather covered head rests with a whole new headrest with the dvd player and screen built in.You then just zip up the leather front and they look just like ordinary headrests again.

Only £180 for the pair off Ebay.Highly recommended.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XTRONS-HD903-2-X-9-LCD-CAR-HEAD...0

or this link if the other doesn't work.

tinyurl.com/96yp6m4

Edited by Videodoctor on 27/08/2012 at 15:22

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Tue 28 Aug 2012 16:16
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - Alanovich

Videodoctor, these look great. But how do you get power to them?

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Tue 28 Aug 2012 16:40
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - Ethan Edwards

Hogtying limbs / gagging with Duck tape might be cheaper....and more satisfying.

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Tue 28 Aug 2012 21:57
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - Graham567

Videodoctor, these look great. But how do you get power to them?

The wires feed down the metal shafts holding the head rests and into the rear seat.I just unhooked the material at the bottom of the back of the seat and put my hand up to get the wires.

On my car,between the seats is a cigarette lighter power socket.I could have just plugged into that but as i am an electrician i wanted a perfect looking finish so i removed the socket from behind and spliced into the feed from the rear so when i had finished you couldn't see any wires.

Total install time was a couple of hours and most of that was trying to figure out how to get the cigarette socket to come out of its mounting!.

The players also have a usb socket in each and can play xvid files off the internet(not mkv though).

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Wed 29 Aug 2012 01:30
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - Avant

Get a Skoda Superb. There's so much legroom that by the time their feet can reach the back of the front seat they're old enough not to kick (unless you annoy them....)

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Mon 3 Sep 2012 23:53
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - likerocks

my accord has hard plastic seat backs. unfortunately I'm still at the stage where junior junior has his feet at about my neck / shoulder height so they don't help!

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Tue 4 Sep 2012 03:18
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - 1litregolfeater

Stop subjecting your poor children to torture!

Although you may think it good to broaden their horizons, give them an educataion, show them off, anybody under 12 thinks its rubbish having to sit in a car for hours.

Don't you remember? Actually my father must have been enlightened for his time, for between bouts of "I-spy" he had an old RAC handbook with all the registration districts that kept me occupied.

But that's back in the days when kids could read.

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Tue 4 Sep 2012 18:10
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - Bobbin Threadbare

You can still get the Michelin 'I-Spy' books I believe. We had loads of those.

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Tue 4 Sep 2012 21:05
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - likerocks

I learned how to follow a route in the Atlas at an early age....arguably no need to pass this skill on to the sat-nav enabled generation.....

(I think I will though.....)

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Tue 4 Sep 2012 22:10
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - Hamsafar

Rear seat DVDs are frightfully low brow. Children should be able to sit for 5 hours without needing to be mezmerised by an idiot lantern.

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Tue 4 Sep 2012 22:28
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - Bromptonaut

I learned how to follow a route in the Atlas at an early age....arguably no need to pass this skill on to the sat-nav enabled generation.....

I did that too at my own volition. Mum and Dad's Readers Digest road atlas which also included stuff about wildlife, farm animals etc

Actually thinking back the catalyst was probably a very small scale map of the UK given to me by a guest at my 8th or 9th birthday. It was a card envelope with some sort of moveable insert that allowed it to show distances between major towns. So far as the donor's parents were concerened it was almost certainly a case of you dust I'll wrap; perhaps a forecourt freebie. But it got more attention than plenty other gifts and indeed I suspect it's still in a box in the loft.

Anyone else played pub cricket?

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Wed 5 Sep 2012 09:35
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - veryoldbear

Why exactly do kids feel the need to kick seat backs? Exactly the same problem on aircraft, where there is No Escape. You can tell the little blighters to go outside and play, but it doesn't seem to work.

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Thu 13 Sep 2012 16:15
Why can't they make front seats child foot proof?? - meldrew

What a great thread! I told my wife that with small grandchildren cream leather seats were not a good idea. She keeps a damp microfibre cloth in the boot now.

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