Which child in the photo is safest? Over six years ago, an article in USA Today created a lot of hysteria among parents. In particular, one questionable statistic worried a lot of parents and some came to our forums looking for the truth. The statistic was sensational, it said, “When a minivan with a third-row occupant is hit from behind, the occupant is killed half the time, according to a Ford Motor analysis.” Could this be true?
As we all know, you can find a statistic to support just about anything. This one was so dramatic that I emailed the author for its source. Unfortunately, the response wasn’t very helpful. The statistic was apparently from an internal and proprietary Ford study, unpublished, no source of data referenced and never peer reviewed. Hardly worth using, in my opinion, unless the intent was simply to cause unjustified panic.
Cause a panic, it did. Many parents were understandably worried about the safety of putting their kids in the 3rd row of a wagon, minivan or SUV, even many years after the article was published. It doesn’t even matter that the article was about seatback failure-related injuries to adults. In response, I made a web page with something of a clarification for parents and caregivers. While the webpage is no longer updated, the bulk of the article was recently moved to our forums.
The one thing missing from my comments was the same thing missing from the USA Today article. Proof. As is often the case with more obscure traffic safety issues, there seemed to be almost no statistics to confirm the common sense physics. There may be some, now. This abstract in the Journal of Traffic Injury Prevention gives hope. Without the full text, it’s hard to say for sure, but this quote is promising. “The second-row has a 43.4% lower fatality risk than the front seat (0.30% v 0.53%) and the third-row is 58.5% lower (0.22% v 0.53%) for 0-to 7-year-old children.”
Another study (also a fee to view) from the Annals of Emergency Medicine apparently found that third row fatalities were somewhat higher than second row fatalities, but only for relatively uncommon fatal rear-end crashes. More importantly, it also agreed that there is a slightly lower overall risk for third row occupants than for second row passengers in terms of fatalities in all types of crashes (from 1994 to 2004)! This study also stated that, “The probability of death to the third row passenger is greatly increased if a restraint system is not present or is not used.” Keep in mind this study included passengers of all ages.
Take these studies with a grain of salt, but they do appear to confirm what most safety experts have known all along. A child properly restrained in the third row is quite safe, at least as safe as in the second row overall. Choice of rear seating position can make a difference, but simply being properly restrained in any appropriate rear seating position is the the main factor in reducing fatalities. Driving unimpaired and undistracted is another key factor. So, it’s quite possible that the child in the middle of the third row seat in the photo is in the safest seating position, if only by a slight margin. Until more studies appear, we do at least seem to have a lot more information than we had before, and without the unnecessary hype!
In regards to the “Annals of Emergency Medicine” study which included occupants of all ages, how many times have you seen adults or even older children in the 3rd row without their headrest properly positioned? It seems that nowadays with the 3rd row of vehicles being to “disappear” in to the floor, the headrests are by default in a position that would not properly support the head/neck of an average adult or older child. This requires the occupant to manually move the headrest to proper position. Unfortunately, it is probably one of the last things a person thinks of when riding in the 3rd row of a car. They might not even know the headrest is movable. This could contribute to the slight fatality increase of 3rd row occupants. Just my opinion though, since this is something I commonly see while driving.
Thank you for this! My dh is super worried about our properly restrained 7 year old in our Mazda 5 third row. The cargo area IS really small, so there isn’t much room between him and the rear of the vehicle, which I think makes it seem worse than it probably is. Plus dh has visions of one of the big semi trucks smashing into us at full speed while we are stopped. Which isn’t likely and if it does happen, it may not matter what row you were in!
All true, Diana, which is exactly why the study that included adults stressed that the risks are increased if a restraint system isn’t used or present. Being properly restrained is always the main factor in preventing injury and fatalities.
The majority of severe crashes are frontal or frontal offset. The third row is farthest from those and therefore the safest in these types of crashes. Side impacts account for most of the rest of serious crashes. It’s about a draw between second and third row in side impacts, though some vehicles don’t extend the curtain airbags to the third row. The third row would be closer to rear impacts and at higher risk in these crashes, though rear enders are only 5-10% of severe fatal crashes.
The key in all of this is that the second and third rows are both safe and certainly safer than the front row for kids 12 and under.
If the study was focusing on adults, I’m sure the issue was that most adults would not wear a seatbelt in the third row. In your picture the first and second rows were captains chairs, and I know that the adults in my family would be more likely to wear their seatbelts in that type of chair. The third row was a bench seat, and it’s the backseat. I would have to convince some of the adults in my family to wear their seatbelts there. Comparing an adult with no seatbelt in the third row to one in the second row with a seatbelt is not going to tell you which position is safest. It’s going to tell you that it’s safer to wear a seatbelt then not.
Being in a situation where I have no choice but to put my kids in a third-row seat, I’ve always preferred to focus on best practice. There is only so much we can do to protect our children from injuries in a crash, and while choosing the seating location is one of them, choosing and properly using the most appropriate restraint is considerably more important.
This issue reminds me of the one where parents believe their child is safer because they bought a certain brand of carseat, but then don’t use it properly. A carseat is useless if not used correctly, and any extra protection provided by a certain seating location is equally useless if the child isn’t restrained properly.
I am not aware of any studies like this. I’ve seen case reports of things like tool boxes punching through the rear seat of a sedan. In a very severe crash, anything can happen:-(
In the Odyssey, that well provides some protection as it is surrounded by the frame. Stuff stacked up to the the middle of the third row seat would pose more risk, of course.
There is a new thread over at odyclub.com showing picture of a 2001 Odyssey rear-ended. The occupants in the third row, a seven and nine year old, walked away with no injuries. Pretty amazing. The van was struck so hard from behind that it totaled the vehicle in front of them. Judging from the pictures, the van’s rear handled the impact quite well, and respectfully maintained it’s structure.
Are there any articles or links regarding items in the cargo area being pushed into the occupants in the third row? My concern would also be that the strollers I have in the cargo (and ‘well’) area could be pushed through the back of the third row’s seats.