are seat protectors safe?

[shancam]

The Marathons are digging in to the leather BAD.
Do I just ignore it or is there something (safe)
I can do to protect the seat a bit?

[801kelle]

As long as they are thin and not that thick.. I know that you aren't supposed to use after market products that aren't crash tested with the actual car seat.. but I also read some info stating use something really thin like a towel or that shelving rubber mat stuff? That is why I chose the carseat grabber.. thin and I thank works well and doesn't compromise safety? So it is to each own's personal preference.

Here is the ones I have in our cars... we have leather seats in both vehicles.. they work great I think.. They are the carseat grabber..

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=2343251

I just did a search to see if I could find any data that says carseat mats are unsafe..

Here is a great article from car safety.org:

http://www.car-safety.org/faq.html#Q36

Quote from site above:

Q36: My carseat is tight, but I'm worried that it might gouge the fabric or leather in my car. What can I do?

Unfortunately, a good installation does put pressure on your vehicle's interior fabric. You may put a THIN towel or mat under your carseat to prevent gouges. You must NOT put thick towels or any compressible material under a front-facing carseat, as this can reduce the safety of your installation.

Here is another good article I found.. doesn't say anything about carseat mats:

http://babyproducts.about.com/od/car...eat_errors.htm

[calebsmama03]

I was just coming to ask if there was any way to protect my car seats from damaging the leather and from snowy/muddy shoes (on the seat back for DD 2 1/2 who is RF still). Is there an "official " word on safety and/or a list of good vs bad ones?

[codex57]

The Prince Lionheart one is thick, really wide (so blocks seatbelts or doesn't fit in general), so generally considered not safe.

[Davids-Coco]

Are they still considered unsafe when a good install is achievable and the seat is not moving or anything? How is that any different than having thinner cloth seats versus thicker leather (assuming there is NO movement at all)?

ETA - even with our seat protectors, the leather has big indents... It does come back just fine if we leave the marathons out for a week or so. The difference for us is that the leather is protected from punctures, which is my concern anyway.

[codex57]

Are they still considered unsafe when a good install is achievable and the seat is not moving or anything? How is that any different than having thinner cloth seats versus thicker leather (assuming there is NO movement at all)?

That's fine. The unsafe ones are unsafe b/c it makes installs harder, or the seat can slide around. Basically, the seat is supposed to be locked in. The bad ones make it hard to lock in or get a good install. Unfortunately, it seems the thinner it is, the less it affects the install but that tends to mean it protects less.

[Joolsplus2]

Britax dents really do pop out of leather, I know it seems awful, but it's not (been installing them in my poor beleaguered van for 5 years now, and carseat dents are NOT the biggest problem in there...it's the chocolate milk stains I can't get out of the carpet, lol). Yeah, the thinner the protector the better. The best rule of thumb is that the seat must install JUST AS TIGHT both with or without the seat protector, as Codex said... that'll insure it's not making a bad install seem good or a good install bad.
As for seatbacks... if it's a captain's chair, try a t-shirt or any one of those seatback protectors that are supposed to be for the back of the front seat...the Sunshine Kids one is super thin nylon that pops out to stay in shape, that might be perfect.