1: Why?

The head of a 1 year-old child represents 25% of body weight and due to a frontal impact in forward position, the head will “shoot” forward with tremendous energy. Neck loads up to 300 kg are typically measured using our crash dummies at an impact speed of 50 km/h. Medical specialists recommend a maximum of. 130 kg. When using rear facing seats, neck loads are typically under 8o kg.

2: Risk of Injuries

When using forward facing seats, there are 3 high risk issues!
- Neck injuries due to neck load, which can lead to paralysis or death.
- Skull and face injuries due to flying debris in seating area.
- Injuries to inner organs due to seatbelt intrusion, which can be fatal.

3: Low risk

Crash studies done by ICRT and ADAC on a huge number of child seats, are showing that head and neck injuries are 5 times less likely when using rear facing seat. Studies of real life accidents done by Volvo and insurance companies show that children in rear facing seats are 5 x times safer than those in forward facing seats.

Volvo study of traffic accidents

The study covered 13 000 accidents, of which 800 with children as passengers in the age of 0-4 years.
The risk of severe injuries by forward facing versus rear facing seats.

Rear facing           8%
Forward facing   40%

This shows that rear facing seat use is 5 times safer than forward facing seats.

4: How long?

As long as possible – at least to 2 ½ year. 30 years practical experience with rear facing seats has shown that rear facing seats can be used without problem until the child is 3 years old. In some cars the space for the legs is the limiting factor.