Caution for those with toddlers!

RocNYRunner

RocNYRunner

New member
Tonight I had a near miss that I'm pretty shaken up about. My 4 year old daughter discovered that she can reach the adult seatbelt from the seated position in her carseat. While pulling it out, she somehow wrapped it around her neck, and upon letting go, it retracted it's full length. Except for the loop around her neck that was now choking her! I stopped the truck, jumped out only to find that the seatbelt won't pull forward again until it is fully retracted. Thank god I had my knife on me and could cut the seatbelt, she would have hung herself had I not.

If you have children in carseats in the outboard positions, latch the seatbelts behind their carseat so they cannot play with them!

The new seatbelt is totally coming out of her college fund!
 
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Right on man. I always carry a knife with me, you just never know what it can come in handy with. Way to spread the word, this could save a life. But honestly, I think this is a big enough deal to contact Toyota about. Not a recall or anything, but maybe they can include warnings with their new vehicles. Any maybe, they might even help you out with a new seat belt :)

Quick thinking, glad your daughter is ok.
 
whew that is scary

wow! I can only imagine the panic you were going through.

I agree with simple-let Toyota know about that.

My own kids are past that age- but I'll warn others with small children and driving all types of vehicles...
 
FYI...

All (shoulder and lap) seat belts in Toyotas with the exception of the driver's has the Automatic Locking Retractor (ALR) function. ALR is suppose to facilitate in the installation of child seats without the use of locking clips. Sadly that ease comes with inherant dangers.

IIRC, cars from different brands in the last 10-15 years have this feature.
 
Wow Roc, that is seriously scary! I have a 4 year old daughter too so your post really hit home. I will be taking your advice this weekend and fastening that belt behind the car seat!

This is why I love this forum! Good looking out!
 
did u ever think that, when u turn off the truck, the seat belt will be loose again, so no need to cut it off.
 
This is not a new problem, although it is rare. Sadly, most parents are simply unaware that this has might happen. I'm pleased and impressed with your swift reaction to the situation.
Child Critical After Becoming Entangled in Seat Belt | NBC Washington
I have been on a rescue call with my fire department for this exact thing too. The belt needed to be cut as well. The seat belt 'locking' mechanism is totally mechanical and needs to retract a very small amount before it can physically unlock, but unfortunately they often cannot retract anymore because they are under pressure from the victims neck.
 
riceandpho said:
did u ever think that, when u turn off the truck, the seat belt will be loose again, so no need to cut it off.
Click to expand...

No, when your daughter is being strangled, there isn't a lot of time to weigh your options. A seatbelt is far easier to replace.

Also, it would not have worked. The ALR function kicks in only after the seatbelt has been pulled out to it's full length. You can hear it start to ratchet as you let it retract. It doesn't disengage until there is only about 12 inches of belt left to retract, which is apparently shorter than the length needed to wrap around a child's neck.
 
Fortunately you were prepared for the situation by having a knife. I doubt many people carry a knife with them or keep one in the vehicle (members of this forum excluded). So am I understanding correctly that this feature is on the seat belts to help with child seat installation? Yet it poses a potentially deadly safety hazard to children? Ironic
 
RocNYRunner said:
If you have children in carseats in the outboard positions, latch the seatbelts behind their carseat so they cannot play with them!
Click to expand...

I'm glad that you were able to make a quick and RIGHT decision and I'm happy that your daughter is fine.

Your incident is just another reason for having the car seat mounted in the middle of the rear seat. There the car seat is the farthest from any possible impact point in case of a collision, and your child can NOT reach ANY seatbelt.
 
I'm very glad things turned out good for you. Good job staying cool under extreme stress in my opinion.
 
My pocket knife got me out of a jam too...

Glad you were able to get the belt off and your daughter was okay. Says a lot about the value of carrying a pocket knife. I was in a roll-over crash a year ago, and my Grand Cherokee ended up on it's roof. My 200 lbs hanging upside down from the seatbelt was too much weight on the latch to allow me to release it. I would have been stuck there for quite a while (while the smell of gas fumes was getting stronger) if it hadn't been for my pocket knife. I was able to cut myself out of the seatbelt and crawl out a window. I never go anywhere without my pocket knife. Luckily, I wasn't hurt, and I had enough money from the insurance settlement to go out and buy a nice 3rd gen to replace my POS Grand Cherokee :biggrin2:
 
My 3.5 year old cousin (lives with us) rides with my all the time, this rather scares the shit out of me, his car seats no longer have the there own restraint system, so he uses a booster seat and my regular seat belt, he is a big boy for his age. My car and my dads have multiple knives in them, but the other cars i drive dont, at which if that ever happens i would rip that seat belt off the car. Thank you for letting us know. I really appreciate it.
 
Wow...that's a whole new nightmare to consider

Being a father of 3 all who spent there lives with me and my 3rd Gen 1998 Sr5 This could have easily been me. With that being said once my wife got her new vehicle I inherited the 4runner. I have to say it's the best vehicle I have ever owned. I take it with me when I go camping/hunting/working with the scouts and I always cary multiple knives as well as a few well stashed multitools. This will now be the standard in all my vehicles. Like all who have said before I am really thankful that you were able to collect your thoughts and not panic in order to address the situation. Thank you for the heads up this is why I watch this forum for posts like this. :nicethread:
 
snhrph said:
I'm glad that you were able to make a quick and RIGHT decision and I'm happy that your daughter is fine.

Your incident is just another reason for having the car seat mounted in the middle of the rear seat. There the car seat is the farthest from any possible impact point in case of a collision, and your child can NOT reach ANY seatbelt.
Click to expand...

Agreed, and that's where she sat until her brother came along. Any idea where I can find a two story car seat for the middle? ;)
 
Update

Took the truck back to the dealer and they fell all over themselves to help me out. They'll be replacing the seatbelt free of charge next week. I never heard anything back from Toyota corporate, but the dealership is detailing what happened in the warranty report. The service manager seemed pretty convinced that it would get some attention the way he wrote it up.

Also had a conversation with a friend of mine in the Brighton PD. He just got re-certified to inspect car seat installations and let me know that buckling the seatbelt behind the car seat is now a part of their training! Apparently my daughter wasn't the first to do this.
 
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