How do you restrain small objects in your car/truck from going flying during a traffic collision? I just purchased my first "tall" vehicle (Honda CRV), and there's not much in the way of compartments with lids. I'm not really concerned with an errant Bob Seeger CD, but getting taken out by my own SAK or window punch would royally suck!

Consider putting in some kind of pet or other partition if you have things in the cargo area. I don't permit much in the way of loose items in my car -- I'd hate to get brained by my little one's booster seat, but I'm thinking I'll accept the risk.

The problem isn't so much the cargo area as the main cabin. The car seats are all LATCH mounted, so I don;t think I'm going to get lobotomized by those. But, not everything up front can be stored in the glovebox, and I might need to get to the punch or SAK in a hurry.

I have a knife with a window punch on it in the driver's door pocket. When I tried to secure it with Velcro I couldn't get the adhesive to work on the car. I ended up stuffing a bunch of napkins (I'm always needing them anyway) to "secure" it in place.

Man, right on the fringe of my memory was a thread discussing this a couple years ago. More a warning about not keeping laptops, loose change, sharps and the like sitting out in the open and becoming a projectile . I remember it because right after around then DW, who is a car slob, was in a hit and run collision in her minivan and it was a S storm in there. One the shoes she was wearing was found behind the 3rd row seat in the cargo area.

You missed a good opportunity for upsell from the dealer - ask them about accessories intended to store your stuff in the front seat area. My wife has a CRV and you're right, the storage is pretty minimal. See if the dealer knows any CRV options. the Honda dealers hereabouts are all about service (and selling you an aftermarket fitting).

In a high-speed impact or any speed rollover, I may rue the day I put a lot of stuff in my Honda Element. At least any pointy things (knives, shovel) are secured in sheaths but they could leave a heckuva bruise. The knives are tucked away in a closed side compartment so I'm confident those are pretty secure.

This does make me think I should wrap in a towel the large open-ended wrench I keep for my bike rack. Most of this stuff is in an Action-Packer which is kept in place by Thule straps, but that would not be sufficient in a rollover and maybe not a high-speed non-rollover crash.

Does the CRV have tie-down hooks? You might look at getting a zip-top tote or duffel bag and securing it to such a tie-down hook or under one of the seats, etc.

I'm fond of LL Bean's "Hunter's Tote Bag" and use two large black ones in my car - they are virtually invisible if anyone peers through the tinted rear and side windows.

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/38534?feat=677-GN1


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A wool blanket or as I do a movers blanket when carrying a load and Fold Over and bungie cord it tight this is for the rear open area of the cars anything else is light weight.

Cabellas has seat covers with pockets on the back.
Duluth Trading Comany has a nice bag called The Cab Commander. Galls has a police bag which holds a lot and is organized. There are also many options including a full length shelf which attaches to the visor anchor and ythe visor reattach to it.

I keep a rock pick (and CS chisels) on my car's back seat, for both designed and emergency reasons. I really oughta lock that down better. It's encased so it won't brain me, but it's not well-located to reach quickly. I don't like a lot of "junk" in the front seat area. A pocket on the passenger seat back would be good (for me!). Had those on previous cars, not this one. I did try mounting a spare backpack to the pass. seat back and putting the stuff in there...wonder what happened to that idea? I can't imagine...

Comms, was this the thread you were thinking of?

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=164060&page=1

Dagny, the CRV has four tie down anchors (D-rings) in the cargo area. I have a pair of milk crates zip tied together and paracorded to the forward pair of anchors. The reasoning is they are too far forward to get booted by the lift gate in a rear collision, and the seatback will (hopefully) prevent the fire extinguisher (also attached to the paracord) from getting launched over the seats in a front collision.

I have a seatback organizer, but I'm not counting on it retaining small objects in a collision. I only use it for maps and sun shade.

A little tacticool (and $$$) for my tastes, but it looks really good for small object containment

http://zulunylongear.com/visor.html

That was exactly the thread thanks Mark.

Great info, most of my stuff is secured behind the seat of my regular cab pickup, my SAK is always secured in my pocket, but I don't carry a window punch per se. I should look into that.

DW's van on the other hand is loaded with junk. Need to talk to her about this and help her get it all cleared out this weekend.

Mark, if the SAK and the window punch are all you want to keep at hand, could you put those on a carabiner clip and clip it on your person when you get in the car, and un-clip it when you get out? Not really sure how practical this would be. Or maybe clip it to the car somewhere that is secure yet still close at hand? I am not familiar with the Honda CRV so this is all I can say. For other gear that doesn't need to be close at hand, secure it in a container and secure the container to the car (such as in a tote that is then secured via bungee cords or cargo nets). Hope you find a solution that works and thanks for the reminder about unsecured objects in the car becoming a danger in an accident.