Rear facing in real life
Many parents wonder how the Swedes keep their kids rear facing until age 4 or longer. How does a parent fit one, two, or three rear facing seats in the rear and still have room left in front? Is a large car necessary or will a mid size, or small car, work as well?
The Swedish rear facing seats are unique since they have tall seat shells but still don't need much room. A regular mid size car will keep a toddler or two rear facing in he back seat until age 4 or longer. Space in the front will still be fine. A good example are the photos below with a DuoLogic and a Britax Hi-Way in a normal VW Golf, a regular mid size car.
This is surprising to most parents, a common myth told by organizations who hate rear facing is that a rear facing seat in the rear means no space left in the front regardless of car. Just yesterday a worried parent emailed asking about using DuoLogic in a Volkswagen Passat, a large family car. She had just spoken to a very well known organization who told her "there is no way it will fit".
Not only will it fit well in a Passat, there is lots of room in the front seat. DuoLogic and the compact Britax Hi-Way will also fit nicely in much smaller cars, such as a VW Golf. This car is one of the most common in the world, two Swedish rear facing seats in the rear seat with plenty of room in the front is no problem (see photos above, click for larger size).
These incorrect statements by organisations, who know next to nothing about rear facing seats, are of course confusing for parents. Leg space in front seat is an important consideration when choosing a car seat since we want the whole family to be comfortable in the car. If you have questions about how rear facing Swedish car seats fit your car please email us at info@carseat.se and we'll help you out.
Britax Two-Way saves a life!
Collisions are terrible and scary but does occur more often than we like. The whole point with using a Swedish rear facing car seat is to keep our children safe in case of an accident. Hearing of unharmed kids in severe collisions is always a relief. Phoebe uses a Britax Two-Way for her son and was hit at high speed. She was kind to include details of her crash and photos of the car which was totally destroyed. Only person not injured in the crash was her son in his Britax Two-Way:
Hi Håkan
Were kids safe in cars 40 years ago?
While talking to other parents about car seat safety one statement often come up: “When I was a child me and my sister were sleeping in the back seat without car seat or seat belt and that worked fine”. Is this true? Do we really need car seats? Lets take a closer look at just how safe kids were in 1970.
As I’ve mentioned before, Swedes are boring effective which mean we’re good at keeping track of accidents and statistics. Amazingly, we started using rear facing car seats in 1965. In 1970 it was still a new thing and few were using car seats or even seat belts. We’ve come along way since then and today most parents keep children rear facing to age 4 due to the huge safety benefits. Are we saving lives by using rear facing car seats? Y E S!! We’re saving many lives each year.
In 1970 58 children died between ages 0-6 years in Sweden. Fast forward to 2007 or 2008 and things look a different. During both 2007 and 2008 only 2 children died each year in traffic accidents in age 0-6 in Sweden. Cars are much safer today but main difference is that children today sit in rear facing car seats with easy rear facing to age 4 or longer. Difference between 1970 and 2008 is 56 lives saved. Is that a lot? I think so but it’s of course a subjective opinion. The quote “A parent should never have to bury their own child” is something which I think we all agree with. (Number refers to all traffic accideents, not only kids in cars. A toddler being run over on the sidewalk is also included in the fatality and injury stats)
We often look at fatalities but not at serious injuries in children. In 1970 there were 283 seriously injured children in traffic accidents in Sweden. In 2007 there were 41 seriously injured kids in age 0-6 years. Number for 2008 was 54. Great progress here as well. We still have work to do but parents are doing a great job.
What happens in a crash at the very low speed of 30 km/h (19 mph) wearing no seat belts? Please look at the clip below and note what object is thrown through the front window. Don’t forget, colliding at 30 km/h is the same force as dropping your child head first into the ground from a 3rd floor balcony.
Where are the chest clips?
A common question by parents is why Swedish rear facing car seats lack chest clips. Aren’t chest slips necessary? Are seats without chest clips secure and safe?
Swedish car seats are certified according the the European standard ECE R44 which is fairly strong, a bit stricter than the US standard FVMSS 213 to compare with something. The European standard has no chest clips on purpose, it’s a safety feature. The standard says one must be able to unbuckle a car seat with one hand in case of an emergency.
A chest clip is a pre-crash positioner. It’s function is to hold harness in the right place before the accident. It’s completely normal for a chest clip to break during a collision. A simplified reason why chest clips exist is because many parents don’t tighten the harness properly. It’s usually too loose which affect safety negatively in a collision.
Swedish car seats often have harness placed more narrow across the shoulders which means no chest clips are necessary (or allowed). Can a chest clip be added to a Swedish rear facing seat? There are third party chest clips available but one should always be careful with adding accessories which are not included with the car seat. Please make sure it’s appropriate for your type of seat before adding a chest clip.
Win a Swedish rear facing car seat!
There are many people around the world who work hard to spread the enormous benefits of rear facing car seats. One of those is Helena who run the popular site Rearfacing.co.uk which has helped tens of thousands of parents in UK learn about rear facing. UK is like most other countries 30 years behind in car seat safety but Helena is changing attitudes quickly. I believe some of the manufacturers who push forward facing for 9-12 month old kids refer to her as a “pain in the a**” which I think is a huge compliment;-)
Helena is right now doing a competition where you can win a rear facing Swedish car seat donated by www.CarSeat.se. Go to rearfacing.co.uk and answer the question “How many times safer is a rear facing car seat in a frontal collision?”. If you don’t know the answer it can easily be found on this site or over at rearfacing.co.uk.
All entries need to be submitted by December 1 2009. Shortly thereafter a rear facing Swedish car seat of your choice could be delivered to your door! We would love for you to get the word out even more about rear facing car seats so we have created a poster promoting this competition. Please download it here and help us by distributing it anywhere you can.
Thank you!
Britax new colors are (almost) here!
Britax new colors are almost here (see slideshow below or external gallery by clicking here). Not all companies are great at timing deliveries, especially new colors, but Britax are as usual reliable. Select models and colors are being delivered this week. New colors are similar to previous lineup with no big changes. Color “Claire” is now gone and has been substituted by “Florian” which I think will be a popular color. “Claire” was nice but perhaps a bit too extreme with the brown colors. “Florian” is more discreet and will fit nicely in most cars.
Where are the pink and girly colors? This a common questions by parents. Swedes are quite boring practical, the darker colors work well with the long winters and muddy shoes….. Pink is not a common request but Britax has introduced a nice pink color this year, “Bella”, which will be available for the infant seat Baby-Safe and also the excellent high back boosters Kid Plus and Kid Fix. Pink stands for a small part of overall sales so it’s understandable it’s not available for all seats.
New for this year is harness holders on side of seat which will keep harness out of the way when kids climb into the car seat. 2010 catalog from Britax is also nothing but spectacular with nice appealing layout, awesome photos, and high quality paper. Nicely done!
Britax Multi Tech saves a life!
A large number of parents daily send emails to www.CarSeat.se with all sorts of great questions about rear facing and the Swedish car seats. The email below is a little different (and scary) since it involves a terrible crash. Many thanks to A-L in Finland for the actual photo of the crashed car and for getting the story from the mother:
The accident took place in Finland November 2008, on Fathers Day. Mother and daughter were on their way to grandma in their Nissan Primera Hatchback -05. Daughter was 9 months old and sat rear facing in the back seat in her Britax Multi Tech which was only a month or two old.
Mother was in the early stages of a pregnancy and constantly felt exhausted. After a while she was so tired she had to stop and walk around for a while before continuing to drive. Mother then continued driving but unfortunately fell asleep at the wheel shortly thereafter……
Her car crossed the middle lane at 50 MPH (80 km/h), continued across lane going in opposite direction, hit a ditch on side of road and then hit a large pile of timber. Her car then flipped four times.
All windows shattered and there was glass everywhere. Trunk of the car popped open, the stroller was found in the woods. Airbag deployed which meant mother remained protected by airbag and seat belt. Injuries to the mother consisted luckily only of scrapes from all the broken glass.
Daughter, who had been asleep in her Multi Tech was perfectly fine except for a few scrapes from all the broken glass. Mother made it out of the car by herself but could not reach her daughter since doors were impossible to open. Daughters car seat looked like nothing happened. It hadn’t moved an inch and support leg was just were it was supposed to be. Everything was working perfectly when she was lifted out of the car.
Firemen and ambulance staff scene were impressed: “If she hadn’t had such a great car seat she never would have made it. It’s one of the best car seats we’ve seen, we especially like the wings on the head support”.
The mother had purchased her Britax Multi Tech on “gut feeling”. Salesperson had recommended a far cheaper car seat but she felt strongly about having a safe rear facing car eat with nice head support. Her new replacement seat after the accident was not surprisingly another Multi Tech.
Daughter in the accident has now become a big sister and everything is going well. Mother is planning on an additional Multi Tech when her youngest daughter is old enough.
Terrible accident with a great ending. Is Britax Multi Tech that much safer than other Swedish rear facing car seats? The answer is no. Multi Tech is a great seat with nice head support which keeps children rear facing longer than any other seat in the world but safety is equally great in other seats such as DuoLogic, Britax Hi-Way, Britax Two-Way, Maxi Cosi Mobi, and Izikid Isofix.
The important thing is for children to remain rear facing as long as possible, preferably to age 4or longer. The child above was 9 months old and sitting rear facing. What would have happened if she was sitting forward facing at this age? It’s very likely this terrible crash would have ended very badly for the daughter with death or serious injury as a result.
Rear Facing – What About Leg Space?
A very common question from parents just learning of rear facing is about leg space. Where do the legs go? My 6-month old is getting cramped with leg space, how can my toddler sit rear facing? Is it dangerous to sit rear facing in a crash from the rear?
Lets start with safety, are rear facing children at risk in collisions from the rear? Research and real life experiences show rear facing children are also extremely safe in collisions from the rear. The usual statement is “rear facing children are as safe or safer than forward facing children in collisions from the rear“. These collisions are usually far less severe than frontal collisions due to crash dynamics. Collisions from the rear also account for only about 5% of total collisions.
Rear facing children can get injured in these collisions but it’s rare. We also know from experience that we can repair injuries to legs which we most often can’t do with injuries to head and neck. Children who sit forward facing are not exempt from injuries as well. Research show that injuries to lower extremities in forward facing children are quite common.
What about leg space? Rear facing children sit with legs bent which is both safe and comfortable. Look at your toddler during those play sessions. Legs are always bent, children are far more flexible than us adults and enjoy sitting with legs bent or crossed.
Here in rear facing heaven Sweden most parents keep children rear facing until age 4 or longer. So far I have never heard a child complain about feeling cramped in the car or being uncomfortable. Kids are perfectly happy rear facing at age 4-5 and it’s also common in Sweden who has led the world in car seat safety since 1960. If you want to see older kids rear facing, please take a look at the gallery.
How safe are Swedish rear facing car seats?
This question comes up fairly often in the avalanche of emails received each day at CarSeat.se. How safe is my child when riding rear facing in a Britax Multi Tech, Maxi Cosi Mobi, DuoLogic, etc? The answer is unbelievably safe.
There is research which show the tremendous rear facing benefits for young children but not much for children aged 2-5. Why is this? It’s because no other country keep children rear facing as long as Sweden, the recommendation is rear facing to at least 4 years of age. A recommendation followed by a large percentage of parents.
Sweden has been rear facing children since 1965 and have a tremendous amount of research and real life experience showing just how great rear facing is. Back to the question of just how safe rear facing is.
Statistics, data, research and real life experiences accumulated over all these years show children almost never die or become seriously injured in correctly installed Swedish seats. Most often it takes a tragic, unsurvivable and catastrophic accident to cause great damage to a child. What does this mean? It means accidents not possible to survive regardless of seats used. Examples are a car skidding into a river, fire, or being hit by a very large vehicle at high speed, etc. Tragic but extremely unlikely events.
In both 2007 and 2008 only 2 children died in traffic accidents in Sweden in ages 0-6. These accidents were catastrophic and unsurvivable. That’s a phenomenal safety record which show the huge rear facing benefits and also what a great job parents are doing with car seat safety.
A day in car seat heaven
Tuesday this week was spent in car seat heaven. I was invited to a safety conference in Gothenburg where the small and elite group of car seat researchers met. It was a day filled with interesting presentations by some extremely knowledgeable researchers. A large group from US was there, among them the fantastic research team from CHOP (Children’s Hospital in Pennsylvania) with well known names such as Flaura Winston and Kristy Arbogast. Lotta Jacobbson, the often quoted researcher from Volvo , was also there and listeners included well known names such as Tommy Pettersson and Robert Bell. It was like being back stage at a U2 concert (if you love car seats:-))
These people are on the cutting edge of safety research for children in cars and do work that help to keep our chidlren safe in cars. A few topics discussed:
- History of Child Safety in Sweden ‐ Hans Norin, Chalmers University of Technology/SAFER
- Global Trends in Child Occupant Protection from Real World Crash Data – Flaura Winston, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- Pediatric Anatomic Development and Biomechanics – Part 1: Head and Cervical Spine ‐ Matthew Maltese, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- Child anthropometry and optimal belt fit – Matthew Reed, University of Michigan
- Child specific injuries and injury mechanisms: a view from the surgery suite – Michael Nance, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- Challenges and opportunities for Child Occupant Protection: a vehicle manufacturer’s perspective – Lotta Jakobsson, Volvo Cars/ SAFER
Matthew Reed had done interesting research on boosters in US, specifically the safety difference between well known models of dedicated high back boosters and convertible seats. Some models are far better than others. I focus mainly on rear facing seats but the booster research was something parents could benefit from.
Lotta Jacobsson talked about manufacturers equipping cars with built in boosters directly in cars. Volvo is as always leading research in this area. She also talked briefly about Volvo co-branding the very popular Britax Multi Tech which allow kids to easily and comfortably rear face to age 5+.
Michael Nance from CHOP had interesting views from a surgery point of view. Short summary, we need to protect the head. We can fix arms and legs, not so with brain, head, and neck. This is a huge benefit from rear facing. More on this later.
Overall is was a real privilege to take part of new research from these researchers whow work very hard so our children will travel safer in cars.
Have a nice weekend!
