Specialists in rear-facing car seats

The British Medical Journal published a report on 11th June 2009 stating that rear facing seats are safer than forward facing seats for children under 4 yrs. Dr Elizabeth Watson, a GP, and Dr Michael Monteiro say several studies show this is safest. Parents and guardians should be advised to keep young children in rear facing seats as long as possible.

ANEC (represent the European consumer interest in the creation of technical standards developed to support the implementation of European laws and public policies) concludes that rearward-facing restraints offer a higher level of safety over forward facing restraints to children at least up to the age of 4yrs and would have prevented many fatalities had their use been more widespread. ANEC therefore urges legislators to revise the law.

Cervical spine fractures sustained in forward facing CRS – five real life cases: final recommendation "..children younger than two years of age and preferably younger than four years should travel rearward facing."
Fuchs S, Barthel MJ, Flannery, AM and Christoffel KK: Cervical spine fractures sustained by young children in forward facing car seats. Pediatrics 84(2), 348-354, 1989.

Lotta Jakobsson, a traffic safety researcher at Volvo’s Accident Research Commission ‘We have studied nearly 4,000 children who have been involved in accidents and it is clear, according to Volvo Car’s Research findings, that a rear facing child seat contributes dramatically to reducing the risk of serious injuries to the child.

American Academy of Pediatricians recommends rear-facing as long as possible – it can reduce injuries and deaths.

• Spinal cord injuries to children1.5-55 months old in 7 accidents.
• All but one injury could have been prevented with rearward facing car seats
• “…the children´s spine develops until about five years of age and recommends rearward facing systems as long as possible.”

Stalnaker RL: Spinal cord injuires to children in real world accidents. SAE SP-986. Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Warrendale, PA. 1993. Pp 173-183.

• Objective: To compare the injury risk between rear-facing and forward-facing car seats for children less than 2 years of age in the USA.
• Methods: NHTSA database, 870 collisions with children 0-23 months of age restrained in forward and rearward child seats. Logistics regression models and restraint effectiveness calculations were used.
• Results: children in forward facing car seats were significantly more likely to be seriously injured than children restrained in all crash types.

Henary B, Sherwood, C P, Crandall J R, Kent R W, Vaca F E, Arbogast K B, Bull M J. Car safety seats for children: rear facing for best protection. Injury Prevention 2007; 13:398-402.