Is your car seat position for your child, rear or front facing?
When it comes to your child’s car seat position, there is no doubt that whichever way it’s facing – it’s going to reduce the risk of harm to your child. Which of these offers more safety to your child though?
The consensus has generally been that younger children, in particular infants – should always have the car seat position in the rear facing direction.
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However, a new study shows the potential for children to hit their heads during rear-end crashes. Although the results don’t worry experts for these reasons. Instead, experts are concerned that upon hearing the dangers of positioning their child’s car seat in the rear facing position – parents may be discouraged. Just to clarify, it is much safer for your child to keep the car seat position in the rear facing direction!
The study found that an infant-sized child would be subjected to quite serious head injuries, if your vehicle were to be rear-ended. Although accidents or points of impact onto the rear of your vehicle, will typically occur at low speeds and consist more of ‘fender bender’ type accidents.
While frontal collisions, occur far more frequently and if your car seat position were to be facing forward, you child would be at higher risk of injury!
“It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. The only surprise was the magnitude of the head strikes. We didn’t think it would be that bad,”
said Jamie Williams, one of the study’s authors and a biomedical engineer for Robson Forensic, a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, firm that provides expert testimony in lawsuits, including car crashes.
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Williams stressed that infants and young children should remain in the rear-facing car seats position. The study didn’t conclude they’re unsafe, she said, only that they could be made safer for rear-end crashes. She noted that in Sweden, top tethers from the car seats to the vehicle floor prevent rear-facing seats from tilting into vehicle seat backs.
Source: IOL