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If its a holdall - have you got space in the middle of the rear seat or in the rear footwell with the front passenger seat slightly forward? If you go higher in the boot, will the rear headrests extend upwards to block the flight of objects forward? Alternatively, can you pack things end on so that the majority of any item is restrained with only part sticking above the back seat?

It won't take much for things to fly over the top if there is nothing to block their path. If you are a motorway and have to brake hard its almost impossible to uncover the children or pets from even light stuff...

Helen

I dont think you should be packing things above the height of the head rest even if it is light things

take a packed up sleeping bag and get somone to throw it at your body to see if it hurts then imaginge that flying across the car at 30 MPH or more in an emergency braking situation

be very careful what you pack above the height of the headrests

On our first outing I had the car packed to the rafters, but if you have ever driven a van its not to bad. With 3 kids and all the gear in the back of my C-Max I have been looking round to see if I can pack things any better. Then we found vacuum bags for all the bedding etc and what a massive difference, use the vacuum hat home and my little tornado pump when packing up. I can now pack my Vango Vista 800, coleman coolbox, 5kg gas bottle, cooker, 5 chairs, 2 aluminium tables (singles) 5 foam mats, all the sleeping gear, small suitcase with the clothes and now able to see out the back. That aside I will be getting a roof box for next year so I have full visability when driving. Dont fancy the idea of a trailer and it looks like you pay more on a channel crossing too.

Quote: Originally posted by force ten on 27/8/2010

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Quote: Originally posted by rooks on 27/8/2010

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ill think you will find that blocking the back window is illegal and the excuse that "i drive a van so i can use the mirrors" is daft. Dont care what you put on top of your pile hitting someone on the back of the head at 50mph is going to do more than hurt

Everyone should use mirrors regardless of what they drive
im sorry but it drives me crazy as im driving around and see back windows cram packed with stuff and the driver having NO IDEA WHATS GOING ON BEHIND THEM !!

if you didn't need a back window the manufacture would not put one in

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it is not illegal to obscure the view through the rear window as long as the car has properly fitted and adjusted wing or door mirrors with mirror extensions if required that allow you to see clearly behind the vehicle  

when you fit a bike rack to the back of the car hitch a caravan or a box trailer to the car you completely obscure the view from the rear view mirror so it is ok as long as the wing mirrors or door mirrors are correctly fitted and adjusted

it is however still dangerous to load the car to the roof due to flying objects in an emergency braking situation

 

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Quote: Originally posted by rooks on 27/8/2010

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If its not illegal why were the couple I hit prosecuted ?sorry rear windows are there for a reason not to look good and as no one has told the op to have mirror extensions poor advice really

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if it was illegal then every person that tows a caravan a horse box or any other type of box trailer is breaking the law and the police would have a full time job stopping and booking them

the extension mirrors would only be required if the load being towed obscures the vision from the standard fitted door or wing mirrors this would not apply to a load carried inside the car

i do not know any of the circumstances surrounding the incident that you refer to so I couldn’t possibly answer that question