Is rear-facing the way forward?
I’ve lived here in the UK for six years now and I’ve never actually seen a rear-facing car seat (apart from the Maxi Cosi baby car seat we use). Unlike in Scandinavia where rear-facing seats are the norm, here in the UK it is common practice to put your child in a forward facing car seat at the age of 8 months or so. In fact, rear facing car seats are surprisingly hard to find and are expensive if you manage to find them.
This might all be about to change, as a new report by the British Medical Journal advises the use of rear-facing car seats for children under 4 years old. Apparently frontal collisions account for almost 80% of accidents, and it is proven that a rear-facing car seat is better at protecting the child’s head, neck and spine in these accidents.
Here are two good websites which explain rear-facing: RearFacing and CarSeat. I’m not sure I will run out and buy rear-facing car seats for all my kids, but I think it’s definitely something to consider.
Do any of you have your kids in rear-facing seats?
-Courtney
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Interesting point, Courtney. I find it hard to believe that “British parents don’t want them”, so Britax and Graco export them. I can’t help but wonder if this may be a clever marketing ploy. As parents, naturally, we want the best for our children, even if it means purchasing costly car seats. Why have we not heard about this before?
I haven’t seen them in the Netherlands, and Maxi Cosi (Dutch brand) doesn’t manufacture them…
We had our kids in rear-facing maxi cosis until about 8 months, then switched to britax convertable seats, imported from the States becasue you can’t find any convertable seats in Germany. But at age 1 year we’ve switched them to forward facing. I cant’ imagine any kid much older than that really being happy in a rear facing seat.
Maxi cosi do manufacture a rear facing seat called the Mobi. But only in Scandanavia where there is demand for the seat. And kids are happy rear facing. They have, after all, never known anything different and the view is actually better when rear facing. The seats are also designed so that children have enough leg room. Just look at the galleries online of older rear facing kids!
I agree it’s a bit tricky!
You see baby product of any make and price, how come these were never even advertised in the rest of Europe (and the world)?
But I also tend to agree that it would be difficult to have a child rear facing when he gets to toddler age. Unless mum is sitting at the back as well, or maybe an older sibling ….
I’d love to see some in action though.
But in terms of safety italy lags behind, so i do not expect to see one anytime soon.
In Canada it’s the law to have rear facing up to a certain point. I can’t recall the weight when parents can turn the seat around. We kept our children rear facing for longer than 1 year and they did not complain. Rear facing, just like having children in a 5 point harness until 65 lbs in Canada and 80 in the US seems best.
In the US, we’re supposed to keep kids rear facing until 20 lbs and/or 1 year of age. And if you go to have your seat installed by a police officer, he or she will tell you to keep them rear facing as long as possible. But we turned both our girls around at 1….they just aren’t nearly as happy in the car rear facing as they are forward. And the oldest is super tall and her little legs looked squished around that time. I can’t imagine keeping a child rear facing until age 4!!!
Thanks for the link Courtney. Interest for rear facing seats have increased a lot even before this article but it helps to inform other parents about the benefits. Most parents outside of Sweden have no idea it’s a stunning 500% safer to keep a young child rear facing compared to forward facing.
I’ve shipped tons of rear facing seats to UK so far and 25+ other countries as well. Sales aren’t the most important issue, it’s information so that parents can make informed decisions. Which is why a large part of my site talks about facts, myths, and advice.
The information and research about rear facing is far from knew. In Sweden we’ve been rear facing kids since 1965. I actually sat RF in 1967 as a baby (I know I’m old:-)
Most countries have little focus on car sat safety and there is also a problem with liability. For many years governments and organizations have been saying forward facing at age 12 months is just fine even though it has been known it’s not. It’s difficult to change this recommendation without facing an avalanche of lawsuits and criticism.
Please let me know if you want me to write a short blog post about rear facing on your blog.
Have a nice weekend/
Håkan
hakan@carseat.se
The stats about rear-facing seats are really quite shocking. According to a study in Sweden, over a seven year period, half of the children who died in accidents where front facing booster seats were used could have been saved had they been using rear-facing seats. I have three children, aged between 12 and 3, and I honestly didn’t know that rear-facing seats were up to 75% safer. Car seat manufacturers and car designers really ought to be doing more to make rear-facing travelling an option for older children.
Motoring solicitors Keepmedriving are promoting awareness of this and have more information about the safety research and the legal implication on their site. Another good site to visit is http://www.rearfacing.co.uk.