I remember my mother had a particularly hair-trigger and strong auto-break - I am surprised I survived her efforts to keep me safe.I remember when I was a child there were no car seats for kids.
I used to ride standing up in the front seat. There were no worries about being thrown in a collision. Parents and grandparents had an auto brake that swung out as they touched the brake pedal. Their arm would fly out and pin you so tightly to the back of the seat your could hardly take a breath.
We also rode many times to the store in the bed of a truck. No one even thought twice about it!
Then when my newborn grandson came home from the hospital I was told to let him sleep on his back. We never did that! You put them on their tummy in my day!
I suppose we are just lucky to have survived childhood!
The one time we were in a collision she was rear-ended while stopped at a stop sign. I was in the very back - it was a hatchback and the space under the hatch door was a favorite ride location for us kids. We were all tossed around back there but managed to untangle ourselves with minimal damage.
I was such a girlie girl way back then. 
