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Children are 'safer in rear-facing car seats until age of four'
12 Jun 2009Parents should be advised to carry children in rear-facing car seats until the age of four, according to a study published today.
Many babies are switched to a forward-facing car seat at about eight months with parents unaware of the potential safety implications.
Evidence suggests a rear-facing seat is safer in the event of a crash and can help to avoid neck, chest and spinal injuries.
Dr Elizabeth Watson, a GP at the Sunny Meed Surgery in Woking, and Dr Michael Monteiro, a specialist registrar at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, analysed existing data on car seats.
They found rear-facing seats were more effective than forward-facing seats at protecting children under the age of four.
In rear-facing seats the head, neck and spine are kept more aligned, distributing the force of the crash more evenly across those areas.
In a front-facing seat, in the event of a head-on collision the relatively large head of a young child can add to the likelihood of severe injury.
Using the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's vehicle crash database, the authors investigated incidents involving 870 children between 1998 and 2003 and found rear-facing seats were more effective than forward-facing seats in both head-on and side-on crashes.
They also looked at data from Sweden, where about three in four young children travel in rear-facing seats.
The data suggested three out of the six children who died in front-facing seats between 1999 and 2006 could have survived if they had been travelling in rear-facing seats.
Crash tests using dummies also showed rear-facing seats were more effective at preventing serious neck and chest injuries.
Publishing their findings in the British Medical Journal Online, the authors said many parents and healthcare providers were unaware it is safer to leave children in rear-facing seats for as long as possible or even that rear-facing seats for toddlers exist.
They called on manufacturers and retailers to increase the availability of rear-facing seats for older children.
And they urged a change to the current labelling of European seats which they said may imply forward-facing seats are just as safe as rear-facing seats for children over 20lb (9kg).
The authors said visits by health professionals at six to eight weeks were an "ideal opportunity" for parents to be advised on car seats.
Reader views (6)
JC Baby Boom 2000 sells the Besafe Izy combi X3 Isofix and its free delivery over £75.00.
- Andrea, Wirral, 21/07/2011 22:14
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Please can you stop talking about it and just let us know where we can get a rear facing seat as I have been looking and there are not any on the market.....
- Carol, Kent, UK, 19/07/2009 10:38
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My wife and I have an eight month old son and he's been in a forward facing seat for just over two months. The reason? He's huge for his age (that's big not fat) and he's outgrown the commonly available rear facing car seats.
In any case I wouldn't put him in a rear facing seat for the following reasons...
1) It would drive him nut's as he's a very alert child and likes to be able to see things.
2) My wife and I have been in three accidents while driving. In ALL cases we were rear-ended. This means the violent acceleration experienced was FORWARD which in turn mean's a forward facing seat is SAFER.
3) The actual risk / benefit outlined by the statistics in the report is neglible.
- Tobin, Andover, 19/07/2009 09:38
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That's not True JC, they are available, we currently ahve a rear facing seat for our 17 month old which is reverable when he gets older, although we will be getting a bigger one soon. Rear facing seats are much more common on in wurope and are mandatory in some parts of europe, especially sweden.
It's shocking that they aren't available everywhere in this country and the majority of fatal and catestrophic injuries to toddlers would be avoided in they used rear facing seats. Hopefully there will be more available soon.
- Nick Turner, london, 19/07/2009 09:38
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Where did you get yours Nick? I haven't seen anything available in this country which is rear facing and lasts from 9m right through to 4yrs. I've never seen a rear facing 4 year old child in a car. And it does all depend on the size of your baby/ child as Tobin so rightly says. My son is 12kg at 7months 
so I need my next purchase to be cost effective i.e. I need one purchase which is adaptable and will last all the way through until (hopefully) 4 yrs. We don't even have a car, but we need to purchase a car seat in case of taxi rides or rides in friends cars. Therefore I can't buy 3 or 4 seats over the next few years, every time he out grows one as he may only use them a handful of times! Also Tobin has a very valid point in that not all crashes are from the front. Although I'm guessing that perhaps the majority are, otherwise they would not bother with such a survey.
- Jc, London, 19/07/2009 09:38
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Ha! That's a laugh. I've recently been looking at the next car seat to purchase as my son is about to out-grow his rear facing seat at 7months old. After researching the subject, I was aware rear facing is safer. However..... THERE IS NO SUCH THING ON THE MARKET!!!! All the seats on sale from 9mths - 4yrs are forward facing! The consumer has no choice in the matter, whether it is safer or not!
- Jc, London, 19/07/2009 09:38
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