My daughter who is now 5 was wearing a skate helmet. The reason for the skate board helmet is the weight and the thickness of the back side of the helmet does not push her head forward when she is belted into the seat. With a regular helmet her head was pushed forward and she was in a looking down position. Her chin was only a a inch or so from her chest. Sit in a seat and see how that feels! That is what happened when the back of the helmet is to thick.
Now that she's 5 and can old the weight of a true helmet and wants to be wired into the intercom, she is in a true Moto helmet. She also sits in a modified car seat which I modified to give more head support, allow her head to be in the proper possition with a helmet on. Using a car seat put the seat size and belts in the proper ergonomics for a child her size. This is very important as the belt need to keep the child in the seat and not allow them to slide up and out. The car seat also is mounted to a custom base which is then mounted to the stock Polaris seat base. The car seat "Latch Tethers" are also clipped in giving the seat 3 more points of mounting to the chassis. This assures he seat cant come loose in the vehicle as the stock seat base is a single pin latch mechinism.
Right now I'm in talks with an off road seat company to make a true child's seat with proper ergonomics for belts, a head rest that allows kids to wear a helmet and have their head & neck in proper alignment with wrap around side head support.
I ran out of talent awhile back and did very slow 3/4 roll with my daughter in the car. When I got out and was getting a crying scared little girl out of her seat, I saw how well the modified car seat worked and even with us sitting on our side she never moved. Her legs were in the seat (remember kids can't touch the floor for support) her head was in perfect alignment as the side head support was holding the weight of her head, helmet & neck in alignment.
This is when I knew I was on to something and the seat is just as if not more important then the helmet. Right now we are using lightweight helmets to reduce neck injury, but part of the problem is the seat we are putting them in. I plan to fix that!
Now I will say I have spoken to all the off road seat company's out there. To be honest one of the most popular companies shocked me with there attitude. They currently make smaller kids seats, but wanted nothing to do with making a better seat, or even really listening to me, and this is their exact words regarding kids seat.
"Kids seats are a "Novelty Seat" they are made to do no more then to ride the kids around camp. We sell them but do not suggest taking them duning or real off roading with them."
I get that their is a liability with kids seats or any seat for that matter, it's a legal thing. But they don't tell you that when you pay a few hundred dollars for them.
Anyways I'm hoping the company that I'm talking to now will like my ideas and between the both of us we can come to an agreement and build a better kids seat that will not only be ergonomically right, but be built with adjustments so multiple sized kids can us them and grow into them. I'm guessing this will not be the cheapest seat and maybe not for everyone, but this seat will have proper seat belt slots, proper head restraints, allow kids to wear real helmets and still keep their head in proper alignment and they will also have increased hip and leg bolstering to keep the legs confined and in proper place I case of a roll or hard impact.
Stay tuned!
