Front facing or Rear facing? Car seat safety TRUE STORY crash test videos

The many benefits of rear facing car seats, narrated by a grandfather, of a true accident involving his 18 mo old grandson who suffered a broken neck while in a front facing car seat.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• grandpa
• joel's video
• joel
• broken neck
• grandfather

[luv2bfishin]

That observation has come up before, and is answered below in past comments. Rear impact collisions only account for about 5% of accidents. The rest are front or side impact. Also, impact of two vehicles traveling in same direction does not have the same force excerted on the occupants as opposing forces colliding, or hitting a stationary object. There also is an example of a TRUE STORY rear impact posted at Joel's website

[luv2bfishin]

Good question. It is also posted on Joels website/ When a child is rear facing, and the car is rear ended, in most cases both cars are moving in the same direction. The impact may not be as forceful as two opposing vehicles colliding, or coliding with a fixed object. In those cases, you stop almost instantly, and if strapped in place...the head is thrown violently forward. With your child's condition, RF would be my choice......for sure!

[luv2bfishin]

Joel's a happy, normal little 4 yr old. This kid was spared for whatever reason....maybe someday he'll change the world!! His progress can be seen at his website JOELSJOURNEY (dot) ORG

[TFinley1109]

Thank you SO much for this video. You helped me save my son's life. We were hit head-on by a driver who came into our lane. Accident investigation determined it was like hitting a brick wall at 58 mph. My son, being rear facing, was without a scratch/injury. Our Toyota Tacoma double cab is totaled now, but thank GOD my baby is okay!

[muumol]

I can't play it, says owner of the video hadn't made it available for mobile.

[thesafestseat]

@luv2bfishin I am so glad to hear that he is making a great recovery. What a long and hard journey. I am also happy to read the comments of people who watched your video and followed the advice. I am in the process of putting together some safety video links for my car seat safety page (I am a certified car seat technician) and I can’t emphasize to people enough that they can and SHOULD keep their child rear facing as long as the seat allows, not as long as the child “allows.” thesafestseat

[blueaardvark1717]

THis goes for adults as well such as on buses and paians but who wants to ride backwards. well i for one wouldn't mind and who knows maybe in the future we all will be and look back and laugf at "the good old days".

[sarahtessa]

I am just wondering how rear-facing protects infants and children in rear-end collisions. I ask because I have been rear-ended TWICE, but I have only had one front end collision, when a deer jumped in front of my car. I feel like for me, for my driving style, I am more likely to encounter rear collisions, and I want to be absolutely sure that my baby will be safe during rear collisions, since those seem to be MORE common by my experience.

[chuckclose1]

so glad i came across this video!

i was just researching what seat to by my 9 month old because she is 20 lbs and he legs hang past her infant seat now! i knew i would still be rear facing her for a while but the research i did with the law said front facing was ok at 20 lbs and 1 year of age.

she will stay rear facing as long as i can find seats to keep her that way!

thank god joel's health is coming back to him and i pray for him to lead a happy healthy life!

[Nexxybella]

Poor lil guy, i hope he has a great and full recovery and i will put my 3 year old and any future children in rear facing seats!

[graygraysmama]

This is why I am rearfacing my 26 lb 21 month old. When he was a newborn I heard about Joel and his story through a link on a baby forum. I cried when I saw what Joel had been through. I knew then we would rf our son as long as we could. His doctor even recommended it at his 9 month visit and told us about the aap guidelines now being 2 and 30. He is almost 2 and we plan to rear face until he reaches his seat limit of 40 lbs.

[elamnicab]

I'll change my baby's seat to rear face right now!! I am so scare of accidents!

[dandanpizza350]

The weirdest thing I saw on this was the date at the bottom right corner.My moms birthday is the same as Joel's mom's and Joel got hurt on my birthday.Speedy recovery to Joel.

[blackstarr5]

Thank God he AND his mother are still alive!! :)