Rear-facing seats: why choose rear-facing?

01/02/12

As any parent will know, the safety of your child is always at the forefront of your mind. After changes in road safety law and car manufacture, cars have now become a lot safer for adults and children – for example, the introduction of compulsory safety belts into cars has made a significant difference to the number of casualties involved in road traffic accidents. However, children can be further protected by the use of effective and age-appropriate child seats – specifically, those seats which prevent serious injury in the event of a crash.

Many different sorts of child car seats are available in the UK, and most parents will take the route of a rear-facing seat for their very young child, progressing onto a forward-facing seat when they’re old enough. However, in many European countries and the US, parents are advised to keep their child in a rear-facing seat for much longer; and there’s good reason too.

Rear-facing seats help support the child’s spine and neck much more effectively than forward-facing seats, and in the event of a frontal collision, this is what is most important. Keeping your child in a rear-facing seat for longer means that they will be more protected in the event of a crash, especially if you choose a comfortable seat with side wings and built in harness for extra security.

Many parents are averse to keeping their child in a rear-facing seat as they want to be able to see their little one and believe they’ll get bored looking at the back seat all the time; however, considering the dramatic differences in protection for a child between front- and rear-facing seats in the event of a crash, these issues seem significantly less important.

Despite the increased protection rear-facing seats offer, the range available in the UK is considerably less than other types of forward-facing or carry-on car seats. They can also be more expensive, and many cars don’t even have the ability to fit larger rear-facing seats properly. That’s why here at Motors we’ve started a campaign to push manufacturers, retailers and the government to make it easier for us parents to research and buy rear-facing seats for children over the age of one, in a bid to make children safer and protected when in the car.

If you’d like to read more about rear-facing car seats, have a look at Rear Facing, a website dedicated to education about this issue, and continue to follow our campaign here on Motors. You can also join in the conversation over on our Facebook page.