Is It Safe to Let Kids Recline Their Seats in the Car?

I suggest you ask the fire fighters. They see accidents. They.show us how to install child's.car seats. They are trained.

I don't know the answer, but I always assumed all the seats were supposed to be upright when the car is moving. I thought the recline was for when the vehicle is parked. I don't imagine the seatbelt could work properly if the seat is reclined.

I don't think so. The shoulder belt, especially, has to hit the right part of the body. I'd be worried with an adult, and certainly with a child. If you have rear air bags, those are positioned with the assumption that people are upright, I think.

The easiest thing, I think, would be to stop in at your fire station. If there's no raging emergency, someone should have time for you. These are the people who cut passengers out of cars and who respond to all kinds of accidents. In our town, they help new parents learn to install carseats and so forth, and are totally up on safety regulations. Also, if your kids hear the info from the firefighters/rescue squad people, they're less likely to argue with you.

I'd get those neck pillows and other gadgets for long trips. The kids can be comfortable without reclining. Any travel website or catalog will have tons of suggestions.

No no no no no!!! In an accident they can actually slide right out of the seat belt and hit the roof of the car..There was a news story about a young girl who's mom let her recline her seat while driving home after soccer practice and she ended up breaking her back.

You should also not let anyone put their feet up on the dashboard because in case of an accident the air bags can break your legs, feet, and cause them to fly back into your face causing broken bones.

My back seats don't recline so it is not an issue for us. It doesn't sound safe to lie down but I would think slightly reclined, like an airplane seat, would be fine.

I'd say reclining slightly so you're mostly upright and the safety belt still holds you firmly is alright.
If you go too far and are anywhere close to laying down - you'll slide right out from under the belt and that's not good.
That being said, in 1976 we drove across country in a Chevy Malibu station wagon and never wore seat belts - we took turns sleeping in the back on a sleeping bag - just like you did!
It's amazing we survived our childhood.
I know thinking about safety saves lives, but I think we get a little carried away with it sometimes.
Really - if the industry wanted to get crazy about it - instead of seat belts they'd have 5 point harnesses for driver and passenger seats too (would be a pain to use if you wore a dress) - but that would hold you in whether you reclined or not.

I have no idea and could google it I supposed just as easy as you could. However, I would *assume* that if it was so terrible, they would no longer be making reclining seats in our new cars because there would be such an uproar about it. So if we don't generally hear about it, then I would assume they are pretty safe, although not as safe as if you were sitting upright with your seatbelt fully on, but safe enough. Good luck.

Googling around I found that the greater the distance from the restraining belt and the person, the less effective the belt is. This doesn't mean it is rendered useless, it is just less effective.

That being said, as a hardcore road trip family, I'm the first one to recline and snooze in the front seat. For whatever reason, I don't sleep in the back seat...perhaps it is too uncomfortable.

Maybe one way to avoid conflict is to just tell your kids that they are safer in the back seat and the issue of reclining will take care of itself. (We don't have an SUV, so perhaps it is more of an issue there if seats recline.)

Seatbelts are designed to transfer the impact loads from an accident to parts of the body which can withstand those loads, i.e., hips and shoulders. With that understanding the need for booster seats becomes very obvious. A child of a certain size simply won't be contacting the seatbelt correctly for load transfer. Going a step further reclining the seat will also alter the contact between the seat belt and rider. Like any decision it is a matter of weighing understanding and risk. Good luck.

I assume they are sitting in the back seats? Our SUV rear seats recline barely at all...just a small amount. The seat belts don't hit them any differently, that's how little they recline.

I know the studies and suggestions, but a whole ton of people survived in much less safe vehicles without restraints at all. I suggest you do what you feel is right and within the scope of the law.

Short answer is no, it's not safe. If the seat is reclined the seat belt can't do it's job in the event of an accident. It's not sitting on the correct parts of the body. It makes it even more unsafe if they are too small verses what the seat belt is designed for.
At that age they should still be in a booster unless they are 4'9" AND they fit on the seat with their bottom all the way back, back straight against the back, legs bent at the knee over the edge with feet flat on the floor AND the seat belt sits across their collar bone and shoulder area instead of their neck and across their lap not their stomach. High back boosters are infinitely safer than backless boosters that are akin to putting a telephone book underneath them at the kitchen table. Depending on the size of the 7 year old, he could very well still need to be in a 5 pt harness.
My 7 year old is in a high back booster by Diono. My boys stayed in high back boosters until around the age of 12 which is when the seat belts finally fit them correctly and safely. Because of the high back they had somewhere to rest their heads on long drives and could fall asleep comfortably just like in their 5 pt harness car seats.
I know laws don't match most if not all of this. Safety was more important to me and my husband so we followed safety recommendations and didn't care what laws said.

If you go try it out (I just did) when you lay back the lower belt moves up towards where your organs are (supposed to hit tops of thighs) and the shoulder belt of course isn't snug at all or restraining you at all. Picture the force of a crash. I would think kids could slip under it.

I know we did same in our station wagon growing up too.

No. Not safe at all for anyone.

If you think about how adults sit in their seats you can think like that. I sit in my seat while driving with the back very upright. I like it like that. When my husband has driven my van and I get in it feels like the seat is nearly lying down.

I think we all put the seat where we want it. I don't think laying it down flat is safe for anyone in the vehicle because if you have an accident the seatbelt can't hold them in place to protect them from moving about the inside of the vehicle or being thrown out. So no, not reclining all the way down.

However, leaning the seat back a small amount wouldn't bother me.

As for child seat laws. Your youngest is still in car seat laws in a lot of states. If you go across state lines and are stopped for any reason then you might get ticketed and have to purchase a car seat for them to reduce the cost of the fine.

Oklahoma had age 6, the day they turned 6 they no longer had to be in a car seat of any sort. Unless they were unusually small or short or something then the seatbelt should be fine for them. They changed the car seat laws to read up to age 8 now.

I think your kiddo in the car seat shouldn't lean back at all but be in a good position for safety. The older kid should be able to find a comfortable position to sit in. Not laying down, not saying that, but where they are comfortable.

I'm not even comfortable reclining my own seat in the car in case of an accident. I wouldn't let my kids either.

I would say no. Very slightly, but not fully reclined by any means.

Also, I know you are in Illinois, but I want to note that California law states that kids must be in boosters until they are either age 8 OR 4'9" tall. Weight does not factor into it at all. The reason for the law is that the seat belt doesn't properly fall across the shoulder until a person is at least 4'9" tall - anything shorter and it's hitting them in the neck and not protect them properly. So, unless your boys are at least 4'9", they are both safest in boosters regardless of their age or weight.

Of course, you aren't doing anything illegal with your older boy, but if he's under that height limit and sitting without a booster, he probably isn't as safe he could be.

I remember the days of being loaded into our big van, laid on a makeshift bed of blankets, and sleeping all the way to lake Havasu, because we left at 4 in the morning. How things have changed in 20 something years. But then, the amount of people on the road has changed also.

The firefighter who installed our carseats said adults should not recline their seat anymore. As a few others have stated, the belt does not touch properly when you are reclined. If it's a no no for adults it is definely a no for children.

We still have our children rear facing so that they can be comfortable on long road trips. Obviously, yours are bigger than mine, so that isn't an option. Could you use little airplane pillows, the kind that wrap around the back of the neck? I know they make car pillows for children, that look like that and are not supposed to interfere with carseats and seat belts. If in doubt, call your local firestation. They would be the most well versed in this subject.