Is it safe to put infant car seat in this car? Wife says no!

[Lee00blacksilverGTS]

Thank you for your wise insight Lee. I am also concerned about "traumatizing them" at a young age. I'd wait until they truly have an interest and understanding about cars, which is what I have done in the past with older kids. Then they become car people (or Viper people in this case) for life. Just like the rest of life, it's a fine line.

Yeah, but don't think I'm agreeing with you. My point was NOT about advanced safety features. I'm Mr. Helbig's biggest supporter in that regard. Just to make that distinction.
My point was about noise and motion and the child is not old enough to understand a verbal explanation of what is going on.
Show me a kid that does not enjoy a roller coaster....but not one 3 months old. Those experiences should be shared when you can communicate with them what is going on, not before.

 

[hemihead]

Check out my aviator!
My kids a older, 4 and 5 years old but I take them when I can and I drive conservative.
They love it and it makes for some great daddy daughter time.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Jeez Chuck, relax. I'm not pushing anything. Please, take your kids really fast and take really fast turns and knock yourself out. Sorry you don't give a crap about kids and their safety. It says a lot about your priorities in life. Maybe you don't have anything to lose. Your posts about bragging about lack of safety are sad, which I associate with Vette owners more than Viper owners...so maybe you should buy the Vette That's a joke Chuck...

Yes, you are pushing for something, you mentioned the same thing at least twice in a day and one in a post resurrected from three months ago.

And because I want a fun driver's car built for a responsible adult that somehow translates to not giving a crap about kids and their safety? You don't wanna go there with me, the biggest hypocrites on the child safety issue are the phony over-protective parents doing the most whining.

If you and your nannycrap crowd think I'm bragging about driving a purist car then so be it. I just happen to enjoy continuously perfecting classic man-and-machine skills without the help of nannycrap otherwise known as driver assist tech. The Viper is the ONLY sportscar that allows us to work on those skills. If I wanted driver assistance technology I would have bought a Vette or Porsche or Ferrari or Lambo or BMW or etc., etc., etc. But I didn't. Get it?

 

[theviper]

Yes, you are pushing for something, you mentioned the same thing at least twice in a day and one in a post resurrected from three months ago.

And because I want a fun driver's car built for a responsible adult that somehow translates to not giving a crap about kids and their safety? You don't wanna go there with me, the biggest hypocrites on the child safety issue are the phony over-protective parents doing the most whining.

If you and your nannycrap crowd think I'm bragging about driving a purist car then so be it. I just happen to enjoy continuously perfecting classic man-and-machine skills without the help of nannycrap otherwise known as driver assist tech. The Viper is the ONLY sportscar that allows us to work on those skills. If I wanted driver assistance technology I would have bought a Vette or Porsche or Ferrari or Lambo or BMW or etc., etc., etc. But I didn't. Get it?

Chuck, look at the other post on the other thread. You're right, no point posting similar posts on different threads.

 

[viperdrummer]

I agree with Lee's points and I am overly cautious on this point probably based in part on my early legal career when I spent years defending the big 3 in crashworthiness cases --often in death cases, involving child passengers. I learned a lot about delta Vs , airbags etc and to this day it scares the hell out of me. (even after a lot of performance driving instruction)

I think a Gen 3-4 Viper is a pretty safe car for what it is but I would not take kids under about 5 out in one. My kids were 8 and 5 (and one not born yet) when I first bought a Gen 1 Viper, and I never took them out much. It was not so much the car but the fact of the way others (particularly back then ) reacted to the car. You could always count on someone being in your blind spot (stalking/taking pics) or some ***** running up on your butt or wanting to race--all that just made me uncomfortable taking the kids out.

Epilogue--my boys, 19 and 13 have never been attracted to any of our 6 Vipers (unlike their friends) but when you are 6'7 and 6'3 (at 13) you tend to only care about sports. (and girls) I hate to say they will never be gearheads. My girl, now 22 and a Fulbright Scholar in Germany (shameless bragging) never cared about Vipers either. And, they all had lots of seat time with me.

Now my wife drives one Viper and me another to the car shows. I am becoming the old guy at the car show I used to make fun of.

Now that I have totally drifted off point, if you do take kids out take the opportunity to show them how safety features work, the importance of safe driving etc--turn the experience into a positive one.

 

[Kala]

Let's keep the conversation to the original topic...should a 3 month old be exposed to a snake ride?
In my opinion no. But for different reasons. Been there done that with offshore boats, have pictures of her sittiing in my lap when 2 weeks old when the boat was on the lift. I should have left it at that.
Instead she took rides in the boats, when she was old enough to talk she rejected them, in strong words.
I finally realized I scared her at too young an age to absorb the experience. Just the noise and motion.
A child that age is just going to recognize sound and motion....not good for our cars.
You may well scare her forever and she won't be a interested in the stuff with gasoline running throught it.
It took me a long time to get mine over that mistake. Fine now but we wasted a few years while she got over it, NOW I can't slow her down! Don't make that mistake with yours, you want to enjoy the toys with her when she is able to appreciate them. That sharing stuff is important to guys like us.
Don't blow it, wait till maybe 18 months..2 years. You have to able to communicate at least a little to share an experience and tell her about it as it is happening. That gets rid of the fear.
Don't worry about your wife or the conflict of disagreeing with her. She may have different reasons or fears but just think about what I said. For YOUR reasons.
Be patient and you will have a "car girl" to share the rest of your life with. Not some one who says she is not interested in going for a ride when she is 12.
This made me think of a great quote fro the original Father of the Bride movie.

"A son is a son till he takes him a wife, a daughter is a daughter for the rest of your life."

My daughter is 24 and it all turned out great, the above is really true, you just have to be really careful not to screw it up, it's easy to do. Don't push.

Oh, almost forgot, put her in the car, in the drivers seat, and take a bunch of pictures, do it every year, topped off by the year she gets her license. You won't believe how cool that is if you do it. Finally she will reach the steering wheel! Even if it's every five years or so. She will love it when she is finally of driving age.

This is the best post I have read on any forum in a long time. Lee

Having been raised by a Mopar loving Dad... I can tell you we shared so many times together under the hood of one of the cars. Around the cars etc... Driving the cars... So many memories. I only wish he had lived to ride in the Prowler, my first Viper... He would have been laughing about how freaking loud it was...

Do your girl a favor, let her be old enough to understand how special these cars are. She'll share your passion... You'll have a lifelong car buddy, sooner than you think...

 

[viperdrummer]

One follow up to my lecture on safety. The irony is that I grew up riding in my dad's 57 T-Bird with no seat belts (an option ) and a dashboard sharper and harder than a bayonet. With the top down, if something had happened you would have been in suspended animation for several minutes before hitting the ground.

 

[GR8_ASP]

Under 1 year old is a definite no no. That also requires a rearward facing car seat.

My daughter started riding around 15 months. But NO aggressive driving. Nothing to promote a scared reaction. At 6 she now asks for rides, loving every moment in the Viper. Still, no aggressive driving. Just because it is a fast car does not mean you have to drive fast and scare someone. Drive for the conditions and the passengers are part of the conditions.