I have had two new child seats installed uninterrupted for about four months since I bought my second hand 2012 Plug In. No problems to report apart from this one, that concerns me somewhat... I was giving the car an overdue clean over the break, pulled out the seat on the driver side (UK, so right side - same as the socket) and noticed some hard white corrosion on top of both ISOFIX clamps (see image attached). The other car seat did not have this. Now, I am not an electrician but I have noticed similar corrosion on household battery-operated devices, especially when the batteries have been leaking. This leads me to worry that electricity is passing between the ISOFIX clamps that are connected via a metal strut under the child seat. Does anyone have an alternative explanation becasue it is making me nervous... PS There is no obvious dampness or other reason I could think of for this - and drinks are strictly forbidden in the car! Thanks!
Well you have a Li ion battery in that PiP. The electrolyte in there is an organic (flammable) fluid. I do not know if we would expect the same sort of salty looking corrosion that is more familiar with Alkaline batteries or NiMH batteries, which have a corrosive aqueous solution. It looks like it could be a beverage from the seat that traveled along the top of the latch to the latch itself. But if that does not make sense, you may want to inspect the battery compartment.
I'm not sure, either, however the title grabbed my attention, and the juxtaposition of "child" and "electric chair" sounded rather appealing, and not having any children to speak of, thus qualifying me to be one of the world's experts on child-rearing, how could I resist such an opportunity?
I think you are looking at a sloppy manufacturing job. That probably has been there since the car was brand new. And CERTAINLY not something to get all paranoid about. Clean it up and don't worry about it.
the white suff is some zinc hydroxide powder or .. if your prefer '' White Rust '' , the child seat is probably made of galvanised steel and galvanised coating is always zinc .. a bit of water and a ''sloppy manufacturing coating job'' will produce situations like this .... even if drinks are strictly forbidden in your car ... you can't control the condensation .. so the steel go cool-warm-cool-warm .. etc ..overtime drops of water can form on very cool steel when you warm the car .. so you get the idea .. dont worry .. wipe it clean and forget it
It's the base of a child seat, with ISOFIX (called "LATCH" in the US) mounts that connect to the anchor points in the rear seats (instead of using the seat belts). The part showing corrosion is usually inside the seat between the cushions when the child seat is fully installed. I'd inspect around the anchor points for any signs of corrosion, otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.
That could only possibly be the tears when I refuse the request for beverages: No beverages = no spills or, um, liquid waste.
Ok, that's the best possible explanation. Reassured I am still going to take the seating up and have a thorough look, something I was nervous about fearing a loose wire, As I said, I am not an electrician...
I tried to Google Li batt electroyte leaking, and I could not find any pictures of what the electrolyte looks like. I am down to ripping one apart myself, but I digress. The galvanized zinc oxidation sounds like the explanation to me. The other type of corrosion is sometimes called galvanic corrosion if there is some kind of static elec differential over the metals in contact with each other. In any case it does not sound like a battery issue.
The OP said the other child seat did not have this issue , perhaps this one is made of cheaper components and is more vulnerable. Sometime the cause is simply incompatible metals .. Ex ; you never mix galvanized coating items (Zinc) with copper or Brass you can find an interesting reading about a bimetallic assembly here Another look at the picture : notice that the point of contact where the ISOFIX clamps meet with the car is '' white rust '' free. So, I do not think it's bimetallic galvanic corrosion .. the white stuff is only on top where the condensation is more likely to form and persist. Do as QuantumFireball has suggested .. inspect the anchor points , i bet they are clean. hey i'm not a scientist .. That's just my opinion .. LOL
I just discovered this thread. Flaming makes a good point. The affected area happens to be in a place that is constantly rubbed by the bottom of the seat back. If it was due to acid (extremely unlikely) it would be on the battery case and below, not up that high. If it was electrical (even more unlikely), someone would have screamed by now upon standing in a puddle in the rain and unbuckling the kid, and the corrosion would be at the metal to metal contact point, not the metal to cloth contact point.
