Extended Rear Facing

This video was created by a certified child passenger safety tech. w/ SAFE KIDS

Car crashes are the #2 killer of children under 1yr. They are the #1 killer of children ages 1-14yrs. Rear facing is almost 5x safer than forward facing. In a perfect world EVERYONE would be rear facing. Flight attendants rear face and it's no coincidence.
The bare minimum to forward face a child is 1yr AND 20lbs, however it is safer to rear face to the upper limits of a convertible car seat. A child is too big for rear facing when they are over the weight limit of the seat (30-40lbs) or have 1" or less of hard plastic shell above their head. In Sweden kids rear face to about 5yrs and 55lbs because it is SAFER. It might look funny and it might look weird but I would rather have a funny looking kid than a dead kid.

Internal decapitation, atlantooccipital dislocation, describes the rare process by which the skull separates from the spinal column during severe head injury. This injury is nearly always fatal, since it usually involves nerve damage or severance of the spinal cord. Hanging relies on allowing the subject to break their neck under their own weight.
In a car crash a forward facing child's limbs will fly around and be more susceptible to injury. Their neck will stretch 28"-32". It only takes about 1/4" to snap a child's frail spinal cord. It only takes that 1/4" for a child to die or suffer life long paralysis.

This is the story of a little boy who broke his neck during a car crash because he was forward facing. He is lucky to be alive. http://www.joelsjourney.org/

In a collision a rear facing child will be cradled by their car seat instead of being violently thrown around. Their head, neck and back will be supported by the car and most of the force from the crash will be absorbed by the car seat. A forward facing child's head will take most of the force from the crash.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• ERF
• extended rear facing
• car seat
• safety
• kids
• toddler
• baby
• SAFE KIDS
• child passenger safety

[chasitymarie081]

I have a question, one of the last seats on the video showed a boy in a camo seat.. this is a factory cover? If not.. it's a whole different car seat safety issue..

[babyboomboom0029]

@chasitymarie081 The one at like 2:20? That's a very old Britax Marathon. It's expired now but when the picture was taken it was not expired. It's just an older picture. :)

[starryeyedbeautypie]

I LOVE this video. with one exception. am I the only one that caught this? at 1:27 it says 'the most common injury for forward facing children is broken legs'. and while it says this it shows a picture of a rear facing child... this cant be true. I thought the most common would be spinal injury?

[babyboomboom0029]

@starryeyedbeautypie Nope. In 2007 there was a study done about lower extremity injuries & FF kids. It stated that the most common injury was broken legs. They would hit the seat in front of them since the most common type of collision is a head on collision. All the child's limbs will move towards the point of impact. The legs will fly up and slam into the back of the front seat, therefore causing the legs to break.

[luv2bfishin]

Awesome video!!! Thank you for spreading the FACTS.

My grandson, Joel, was 50 % over the "minimum" allowed to front face a child, and broke his neck in a frontal collison. He was 18 mos and 33 lbs. Fortunately, his spinal cord was intact, and he is still recovering.

The FF laws need to be revisited by our government. I've asked NHTSA many times to provide crash test data to substantiate the "minimum", and they can't produce anything.

Power to the people....like you!

Grandpa

[babyboomboom0029]

@luv2bfishin Thanks for the comment. Joel is a very big reason that my son is still RF. I'm excited to see more and more car seats coming out with a 40lb RF weight limit. It's a small step in the right direction.

[jfergusonable]

This is one of the best videos I have seen put together about a confusing subject. Those who " like it the old way" and cling to obsolete data from the 90's won't like the point. JWF MD / CPST99

[starryeyedbeautypie]

@babyboomboom0029 ok so what your meaning by that is 'lower extremity injuries'. either way, the rate of extreme injuries forward facing compared to rear facing is too common for me.

[madbardell]

My 23 month old is still rear facing and loves it!

[prayforbabies]

my almost 17 month old is RF 

[prayforbabies]

my almost 17 month old is RF an still enjoy it all