Child Seat Safety
Video I made for my sister showing the importance of installing your child’s seat rear-facing. Madison is my niece.Related Blogs: The Cost of Car Crashes | etbe – Russell Coker, Air Safety Culture – Turkish Style « Safety At Work Blog,
what about front and rear end crashes?
thanks for the info, I will now keep my son rear facing after he turns one. Thank GOD Madison is OK….I didnt think it was going to end good. OH thank you thank you thank you
I was looking forward to turning my little one around at 1 year. But someone told me about recommended 30 lbs limit. My research took me to this video. Now Ciena will remain rear facing.
I agree with this comment and I agree with extended rear facing car seats. However, those clips cannot compare to eachother. The rear facing car seat has a 5 point harness system hooked up, the other car seat is just a seat belt through the back. If the forward facing car seat had the 5 point harness system it would not have moved that much. And if the rear facing car seat wasn’t tethered with a 5pt harness it would have moved more.
Frontal & frontal offset crashes account for about 72% of crashes. Rear & rear-offset crashes in only about 4%. The rest are side impacts where RFing is also safer. Typicly frontal crashes happen at higher speeds and normally rear end impacts happen while 1 vehical is stopped or moving slowly. Google something called “ride-down time” too.
For these reasons, it is best to protect infants against the crashes which are by far the most common and most severe.
I assume you mean LATCH, as both seats have the 5 pt harness. A rear facing seat without a tether is still significantly safer than forward facing. Rear facing seats are designed to “cocoon”.Instead of their head and legs being thrown forward,like it would if forward facing, the seat will move with their body , spreading out the crash forces. I’ve seen several other clips of various seats with and w/o tethers and the results aren’t vastly different.
Thank you for making this video. I plan to keep my 11 month old son rear facing for as long as possible and it is great that you are getting the word out. Can I ask what program you used to make the video?
Thank you! the program I use is Windows Movie Maker.
Those were clips of actual crash tests which require the seats to be installed to manufacturers standards. Both seats were installed correctly. A correctly installed ff seat has a lot of “give” and allows the body to be thrown forward significantly. Using a top tether on the ff seat is not allowed for crash testing as the seat must pass without a tether. Having a tether would stop the seat going forward as much but it increases the load on the neck and spine so doesn’t make the seat any safe
My daughter was rf’ing at about 21 months when we were slammed from behind on the highway- she was FINE thank God. Don’t forget also, that many times, when you are rear ended you are then pushed into another car in front of you for a subsequent frontal impact. It is still safer.
Get the pacifier out of that kids mouth so she can learn how to talk.
Lol, she stopped using a pacifier when she was 18 mos, however the pacifier never inhibited her speech. she’s almost three years old now and has a very advanced vocabulary for her age.
Are you a certified car tech?
Here in Canada it is proven that it is safer to have the seat tethered and it is illegal not to have the seat tethered. The car seat in Canada must pass using a tether (which is why many car seats are not available in Canada that are available in the States due to the fact they don’t meet Canada’s strict standards)
Sorry, my comment is in reply to cathwn
Actually, there are more cases of broken legs in a ff crash than rf. In a rf front on crash the child’s legs are thrown up towards their head, or up and to the side in a side on crash, so are not likely to hit the seat back at all. I’ve only heard of two anecdotal cases of broken leg in a rf crash compared to many in ff crashes where the legs hit the seat in front…
cont. A broken neck has NOTHING to do with the size of the seat. It’s due to internal decapitation caused by the head been thrown forward and the spinal cord snapping. A child’s head is significantly disproportionately large when compared to that of an adult, hence why they are at more risk of internal decapitation when ff than an adult.
I already know the importance of ERF. I am adding this to mine and my husbands myspaces pages so people will stop questioning why my 22 pound 14 month old is rear facing.
Just wanted to note that the carseat shown in the forward facing video is not very well installed. A carseat should not move more than 1inch from side to side at the belt path.
Thanks so much for this info, I don’t even know how I stumbled accross your video but the universe works in mysterious ways as just this morning I was thinking about turning around my six month olds carseat (we are in Aust). Now Rylee will stay rear facing for as long as she is physically able to fit into the seat. I can’t thank you enough.
The forward facing seat was properly installed. Seats belts are designed to have some “give” – that is what you were seeing. All seatbelts will do this in an accident.
EthanMadison – thank you so much for creating this video. I thankfully learned about ERF when my son was 10 months old – so he rode safely rfing until he was a bit past the age of 3. I have sent your video to so many friends and family – you have made such a difference for so many children.
Where can I buy two of Sweden’s 55lb RF car seats? I had to turn my son around (23m) at 14m because he’d hit the 33lb RF weight limit on my Britax Marathon. He’ll be two next week and is now only 37lbs. Would he be safer RF at 4lbs over the weight limit? It’s a 65lb harness FF. I have to wonder if extended harnessing is actually safer than a booster when FF. Obviously RF is best, but internal decapitation is a real threat.
I am glad to have seen this since I have been debating on facing my child forward. I have been told that is ok to turn a child forward on their first birthday. I did not feel comfortable with this idea. And now that I have seen video of this I will stick with my instincts. kimmy659 is more than likely someone that is justifying themselves for what they practice.
O the forward is probably tight to the less than 1in rule! this is how a crash impacts a seat!
great video.