Automotive Academy

Even with best practice, not all injuries can be prevented. Some crashes are unsurvivable. Still, much of best practice is based on statistics, and how to have the best chance to reduce injuries. Best practice may also be based on crash forces and physics. Both are very important regarding the use of rear facing seats.

Rear-facing seats are a lot safer for babies, as they would face a greater risk of spinal cord injury in a front-facing car-seat during a frontal crash, a rear facing seat may not be as effective in a rear end crash but severe frontal and frontal offset crashes are far more common and severe than rear end crashes.

A few factors govern the physics of crashes as they relate to children in car seats. Obviously, the faster the vehicles are going, the more energy will be in the crash.  Perhaps most important is the length of time passengers have to “ride-down” a crash.   The longer the “ride-down”, the more time your skeleton and organs have to absorb the crash energy.   Longer time means less power is transferred to your body, and less chance of injury.

Frontal and frontal offset crashes are accountable for 72% of severe crashes, side impacts are 24% and rear crashes are only 4%. The odds of being in a fatal frontal crash are far higher than a rear end crash. Rear end crashes are very common when cars are moving at a low speed, and these types of crashes usually result in whiplash injury to adults especially passengers lacking head restraints.