A story from the Washington Post referenced a study in the current issue of the Journal of Traffic Injury Prevention that found that rear-facing children have some risk for head injuries in rear-end crashes. When a car is rear-ended, a rear-facing car seat is likely to rotate toward the back of the car, which could throw a child’s head into the headrest or seatback. Does this spell bad news for rear-facing in general? Absolutely not.
While the study did find that children’s heads might strike the seatback/headrest in a severe rear-end crash, there are some things to keep in mind.
- Rear-facing is still safer than forward-facing. Head, neck, spine, and leg injuries are more likely when forward-facing, so children should stay rear-facing as long as possible.
- Severe rear-end crashes are rare. Rear-end crashes account for only around 5% of crashes with fatal injuries, according to the latest IIHS data.
- Overall, rear-end crashes account for about 25% of all crashes, but most of these are not severe or fatal. This study tested seats at 30 mph, which might seem slow, but keep in mind that most rear-end crashes actually happen at much lower speeds than frontal crashes, usually after some amount of braking has occurred.
- The study tested only three seats (using three different installation methods for each one) in one vehicle model, a 2012 Toyota Camry rear seat. Although we can take away some information from this study, it is not exhaustive.
- Severe and fatal injuries to rear-facing children are much less likely than to forward-facing children. According to NHTSA spokesman Gordon Trowbridge quoted by the Post, “Real-world crash data does not indicate children in rear-facing car seats are being injured by contacting the seat on rebound.”
Parents are often worried about the possibility that their rear-facing children might strike the seatback in a rear-end crash or due to the rebound that occurs after the initial impact in a frontal crash. Those concerns aren’t necessarily unwarranted, but they need to be kept in perspective: In real-life scenarios, rear-facing children are far safer than forward-facing ones.
The study does raise a good argument for better rebound control on car seats. Rear-tethers (uncommon on USA seats) and anti-rebound bars can do a lot to keep seats from rotating too much toward the back of the car. Even without these features rear-facing seats are very safe, but perhaps research like this will lead manufacturers to include anti-rebound technology. (And maybe it will encourage the NHTSA to update federal standards in the USA.) Canada implemented a limitation for rebound on rear-facing carseats in 2012.
In the meantime, keep those kiddos rear-facing. It’s still the best way to ride. If your rear-facing carseat does not have an anti-rebound feature, then also consider removing any hard objects attached to the vehicle seat or head restraint. These include video monitors, mirrors with hard surfaces or toys that are heavy or have sharp edges.
Are there any rfing seats (not infant capsules/seats) that have anti-rebound and rfing tethering currently available in the US? We’ve lived in Australia the last two years where all seats require both and it’s pretty ridiculous to were how crappy our laws and choices available are in the US, especially when you realize three of the manufacturers here that comply with those standards are American makers who just can’t be bothered to put the same features on US seats because the laws don’t force them to.
Yes, the Diono car seats allow rear face tethering. There are some seats with anti rebound bars too. Clek Foonf and Clek Fllo both have anti rebound bars. Britax has them available to buy and add to their convertible seats. I believe there are others as well.
@Amber – Britax, Clek, Diono & Combi all allow or offer some form of rebound management. Britax used to allow RF tethering on all their convertible seats but moved away from that in 2015 because of resistance from a few vehicle manufacturers who weren’t comfortable with the attachment of a tether connector strap. Britax now offers an anti-rebound bar as an optional accessory for all their current convertible seats. Combi and Diono still allow tethering of their rear-facing convertibles despite the prohibition from some vehicle manufacturers. More info here: https://carseatblog.com/12749/how-to-use-a-rear-facing-tether/
As for laws that require rebound management features on U.S. carseats – it’s a tough call because although it’s not a bad idea, we really don’t have evidence that kids are actually being injured in real world crashes in this manner. And while Australian rear-facing seats do require these features they also cost nearly double what our seats cost here in the US – that has to be taken into consideration. If the cheapest carseats in America suddenly cost $200 (and the average was $300-$500) that would translate into many more unrestrained kids than we have already. Now, if manufacturers can find a way to add anti-rebound features without significantly raising prices, that would be ideal. I’m just not sure if that’s possible.