What is the Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether?
The Britax energy-absorbing Versa-Tether is a strap (a.k.a. webbing) that is attached to two points on the upper part of the child seat; there is a hook on this strap that attaches to an anchor in your vehicle. The Britax tether system allows you to tether your child seat in either the rear-facing or forward-facing modes.
Where is the Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether located on the car seat?
The Versa-Tether strap is located on the back, upper-part of the seat.
Why does the seat need an Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether?
The job of a car seat is to prevent injury; a car seat is used to prevent injury by:
- Making contact with the strongest parts of the body.
- Minimizing movement of the body both front to back and side to side.
- Providing protection to the brain and spinal cord.
The Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether helps to minimize movement of the body.
It is important to understand how a seat may move during a crash. Think of the last time that you had to step on your vehicle brakes abruptly; your body was probably propelled forward and then back as your vehicle came to a stop. Your child seat will move in the same fashion. A quick change in speed is what causes injuries to occur. The more you can keep the child seat from moving, the less your child will move.
A tether should always be used if your vehicle is equipped with anchors. The use of a tether can reduce your child’s forward head excursion by four to six inches. That means that your child will not be moving as much as they would without a tether. Minimizing movement can help to minimize injury.
Child seat with tether on impact. Safety belt, tether and harness work together to limit the child’s forward movement.
Child seat without tether on impact. In extreme cases, without the additional protection of the Versa-Tether, the child’s head could move enough on impact to cause injury.How does the Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether work?
The Britax energy-managing Versa-Tether is a system that:
- Keeps the child seat from moving.
- Distributes crash force energy over a larger area of the seat shell.
- Extends the ride down of the crash.
First of all, the patented Versa-Tether keeps the child seat from moving front to back because the Britax Versa-Tether can be used to tether the top of the seat to the vehicle in either the rear-facing or forward-facing modes. When used in the rear-facing mode, it will reduce the amount of “rebound” of the crash. Rebound is that movement that occurs after your vehicle has come to a stop and your body is forced back into the seat (during a frontal impact).
The Versa-Tether also keeps the child seat from moving side to side because it has two attachment points at the top of the child seat versus just one single attachment point. The two attachment points help to stabilize the seat side to side.
The two attachment points also allow crash force energy to be distributed over a larger area of the seat shell. Crash force energy cannot be destroyed; it can only be managed or diverted away from your child during a crash. The Versa-Tether webbing itself will absorb some of the crash force energy away from your child; the v-shape that is created in the Britax Versa-Tether means that more webbing is used in the Britax Versa-Tether than in standard tethers that posses just one attachment point.
Finally, the Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether is further enhanced by incorporating a series of loops in the tether where it attaches to the top of the seat. This series of loops is released in stages during a crash. This helps to extend the ride down of the crash. Ride down is the extension of time before the forces are felt by the occupant during a crash.
Why is it important to extend the ride down during a crash? Extending the ride down means that the body has a chance to “gently” slow down versus abruptly coming to a stop; again a quick change in speed is what causes injuries to occur. One way to think of extending the ride down is to imagine falling out of a tree and either 1) hitting branches on the way down or 2) not hitting any branches on the way down. It would hurt either way, but hitting branches on the way down would slow your body down before you felt the final impact of the ground. The series of loops breaking free upon impact would be the “same” as hitting branches on the way down; it allows the body to “gently” slow down versus coming to an abrupt stop.
Here’s a video showing you the stitching both intact and after it has been pulled through the seat shell.
A tether is part of the LATCH system. For more information about the LATCH system, visit our About LATCH page.
How long has Britax incorporated the Energy-Absorbing Versa-Tether in their seats?
The Versa-Tether is a feature that has been incorporated in our seats since 1996. The series of loops that help to extend the ride down have been incorporated in our seats since 2007.
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