Forward facing crash test

Make me want to sit backwards in the driver's seat ;-)

This is a truth of physics, and yes parents SHOULD be scared. This is a matter of life and death. Keep your kids rear facing as long as possible. Ignorance in this case is not bliss!

Dawnjordan, I wish you were right...*sigh*...I'm a pediatric nurse, and I've seen this horrible PREVENTABLE tragedy and what's even worse are the poor parents who never knew this could happen but though they were doing their best with any sort of carseat; in "normal" conditions, Rearfacing is BEST even up to 40 pounds--in 'abnormal', it's the difference between life& death or paralyzation. Please spread the word---being a parent doesn't come with a manual--help get the word out &let's save lives

I agree with csyakiimo's comment. The forward thrust of the head can cause severe injury to the the back of the neck, which involves the spinal cord attachment to the brain. My 18 mo old grandson was securely strapped into a front-facing carseat in the rear passenger seat, and the car hit a tree at 35 mph. His top 2 vertebrae were "mis-alligned" and required bone fusion surgery. Thank God, all his arms & legs work. Usually the results are paralysis/death. Rear facing is the only way to go!

Just a question- how fast is the car going in this video? Is it at the same speed in the rear facing video?

The above comment is incorrect. Readers please do not believe it. To explain: They should have shown the video at full speed as well as slow motion and anyone would be able to understand how dangerous that is for a child. The force that you use to move the belt 2 inches by hand is nothing compared to going from 30, 40 or more miles per hour to a stop nearly instantly. The child's chest being held tightly does nothing to stop the movement of the head and thus stretching/breaking of the spine.

To be sure, a forward facing seat is infinitely better than no child seat, but by any measure rear facing is safer.

Also, seatbelts stretch in an accident because of the forces put on them. That's why it's important to have no more than one inch of movement in a child's carseat at the beltpath. This video shows the kind of reaction the body/carseat have when properly installed. If the harness was too loose, the child could slip right out during a crash and if the seatbelt holding the carseat was too lose the child would likely strike parts of the interior of the car.

I agree, there are no teathers!