Is Two Years Long Enough For Rear-Facing? Experts Say No

It used to be a pretty sure thing that switching your child from a rear-facing to a forward-facing car seat could take place around 18 months. With tons of new research from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), having them in a seat well beyond 2 years of age is a must.

In this post, we will discuss why rear-facing car seats are crucial to safety, why the standards have changed, and how you as a parent can ensure your child is always ready for travel!

In this Article:

How Rear-Facing Car Seats Work
Why Safety Recommendations Have Changed
Parental Concerns With Rear-Facing
Our Take
Sources

Family in the car with their 4 month old daughter. She is in a rear-facing car seat.

How Rear-Facing Car Seats Work

According to the NHTSA, 10% of all fatal collisions are frontal collisions. While 10% may not seem like a lot, these pose the greatest threat to toddlers and babies. The collisions will see the greatest speeds and impact forces compared to rear and side collisions. That is not to say that rear and side collisions are not dangerous, but the stress put on a person’s body is nowhere near that of a forward collision crash.

To put this in perspective: An adult’s head accounts for around 5-6% of their body weight. For young children (1-3 years old) this number is closer to 25%. Now imagine that the child is forward-facing during a head-on collision. The impact force will cause everyone in the car to naturally be thrown forward. Since the straps of the car seat will catch the body, the weight of the head will cause serious injuries to the spine, head, and neck. This is in part due to the weight of the head, but also due to babies and toddlers having much weaker neck muscles.

Rear-facing car seats help to alleviate most of these concerns by cradling the impact. When a head-on collision occurs, the little one’s upper body is thrown into the car seat, and the force is much more evenly distributed. This keeps the neck and head area from having to carry most of that weight.

What Math Says

Multiple studies by the NHTSA (in conjunction with the AAP) concluded that rear-facing car seats mitigate forces and injuries by up to 6 times that of a forward-facing car seat.

For example, a head-on collision at 30 miles per hour causes an impact force of around 650 pounds in a forward-facing car seat. In a rear-facing car seat, this impact force is reduced to almost 100 pounds.

Based on injury statistics from crashes in the United States, children are 40% more likely to be injured in a head-on collision (forward-facing). This is reduced significantly in a rear-facing car seat at 8%.

I say all of this to raise awareness about the safety of your child in a vehicle. There is nothing wrong with using a forward-facing car seat. However, I strongly urge you to consider using them later. If you have the ability to utilize a rear-facing car seat for longer, do it. The statistics show that they work better for younger children.

Why Safety Recommendations Have Changed

In a nutshell, the safety recommendations have changed due to changes in car seat construction. Most manufacturers now have car seats that can stay rear-facing for longer periods of time. Before now most car seats ended their rear-facing stage at around 25 pounds. Now, they last until around 40 pounds. S0, children can usually remain in the rear-facing position until they are about 4 years old. At this point, a lot of the concerns surrounding head collisions have diminished as children are much stronger.

Based on the changes in car seat construction over the last 5-7 years, the AAP highly recommends that you utilize the rear-facing position as long as possible. If your car seat allows for 40 pounds rear-facing, do it!

Parental Concerns With Rear-Facing

Of course, when change occurs people ask questions. This is completely natural, especially when it comes to your child’s safety and health. I have found a few questions that I see a lot and want to help you understand them and “debunk” a few of the myths.

What About Their Legs?

This is the most common concern I have seen with rear-facing car seats. I have even thought about it myself as my daughter is pretty tall for her age. A lot of research has been done to keep parents’ minds at ease with this topic.

Since their bones do not truly calcify (become fully rigid) until about 4 years old, there is no concern of injury during a crash. It may seem weird to think about, but their bones are pretty bendy. So, this leaves the other concern: Comfort.

I am a tall guy and hate when my legs do not fit properly in certain seats, especially in a car or plane. So, I have thought about this for my daughter tremendously. I came to this conclusion and eventually found that it was backed by the AAP. Her safety and your child’s safety are far more important than their comfort.

I know that may sound harsh, but it is something that I am okay with. 9 times out of 10 children are fine crossing their legs are raising them up on the seat. For that 1 out of 10 events, just remember that you are doing what is best for them from a safety perspective.

How Do I Communicate With Them Or See Them?

While I will never advocate for you to turn around and have conversations while driving, I do know that this is a concern for some parents. Just seeing your child and making sure that they are not choking or in a weird position is a necessity.

There are tons of cameras that are easy to install and there are tons of mirrors that can be strapped to the headrest on their seat. Neither of these is the greatest option (some better than others), but they are the safest.

What About Rear-Ended Collisions?

While rear-ended collisions that bring injury only account for 5% of the total collisions they are still a major concern. However, since both vehicles are typically moving in the same direction the impact forces are way lower than head-on collisions. Also, because of this motion, the child is still very likely to be thrown into the car seat and not to the rear.

Our Take

The safety and health of children is always a top concern for me. I hope that this article has shed some light on the benefits of using a rear-facing car seat for an extended period of time. Please feel free to utilize the source listing to review the studies and data yourself.

Also, be sure to check out these articles for more information on car seat safety and recommendations.