Thanks, that was very informative and quite horrible to see the test crashes and imagining if it was my little boy...

Thank you! That information was extremely informative. I like how they actually show us a comparison.

My son is now 31 pounds at 3 1/2 years of age. We placed him front facing at one year. I will not do that with this next child. I still wonder if my son is safe enough facing forward. He is such a little guy.

i didnt know that... thanks:)

thanks for that information. i don't have a car but plan on getting one soon and will be putting both logan and layla rear facing

I was actually just looking for something about this on the net so thanks for posting it! I was just arguing with my cousin about her putting her son in a front facing carseat already & he's only 8 months old. She kept telling me to get .Kaylee one here in the next couple months.. No freakin way..

thanks for posting that, nat!

pretty much everyone knows i'm the carseat police. i've been saying for some time now that i plan on keeping finn rear-facing until he reaches the weight limit for his seat (33 pounds rf).

i have been looking on the uk websites at rear facing car seats and they
only go up to a maximum of 13kg!

Wow.. I actually just turned Ethans car seat around to forward facing, but I think I'm going to turn it back around. That's crazy!

accidents happen. But these show the "parent"(whoever driving) running into the back of someone. If you're driving like a nut, you don't need a child in the backseat.

What if someone hits you from the back? Or from the side? (t-boned)?

"According to Crashtest.Com, frontal and frontal offset crashes combine for about 72% of severe crashes. Side impacts are about 24%. Rear and rear offset crashes only account for about 4%. The NHTSA FARS database shows similar numbers. The odds of being in a frontal crash with a fatality or very serious injury are many times greater than being in a severe rear-end crash. Rear-enders are more common at lower speeds, though most injuries in these crashes are not as severe; typically whiplash injuries to adults, especially passengers lacking proper head restraint." -from the 2nd link she posted, which i also showed you a while back.

I understood what the websites said. I was asking because carelessness is the main cause for a parent to smash into the rear of another car.

You should always have 3 car lengths between you and the car infront of you, to avoid accidents.

After getting into my 2 wrecks(before .oni) I take into consideration the amount of space between me and the car in front of me.

People depend tooo much on their brakes, and that's not something someone with a child should do.

Around here, people run red lights like crazy, and you have a higher chance of being t-boned. But I guess every area is different.

Regardless, it's hard to face a 3 year old towards the back after 2 years of being forward. THey can't cope as easily as you'd think.

Oni, could care less if we turned her to the back. But her seat is from 5lbs to 35lbs. is the site insinuating that I wait until she's about to grow out of it for me to face her forward? I find that pointless and a waste of money on a carseat.

Sarah

i cant even believe that you are defending putting your daughter into a forward facing position.



oh please, you are talking about the childs life here, too damn bad if they cant cope. and im sorry, but maybe that person should have done their research *before* they stuck their child in a forward facing position.



the site is saying .P.U.T. Y.O.U.R. C.H.I.L.D. I.N. R.E.A.R. F.A.C.I.N.G. until they outgrow the weight requirements for the seat. that is the responsible thing to do, after seeing the information...no matter how "incovenient" it may be for you.
this is your childs life you are risking.

it has nothing to do with what a good driver you are...nothing to do with what kind of car you have..nothing to do with how inconvient it may be, this is about saving a life. accidents happen all the time, no matter how great of a driver someone may be. but for you to knowingly take that risk with your child...is just unbelievable to me. i cant belive that you are actually arguing with this.

another link, "Rear-facing - Unmatched Safety"

directly from cpsafety-click on "front facing too soon" if it doesnt show up
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearf acing.aspx

here you go:

What if I am hit from behind? Won't my child be safer facing forward?

Frontal and side impacts are the most common type of crashes. They account for 96% of all crashes. They are also the most deadly type of crashes (especially side impacts) and rear-facing children have MUCH more protection in both types of crashes than forward-facing. In the 4% of rear impact crashes that a rear-facing child would be in, they have at least the same amount of protection that a FF child would have in a frontal impact, with the added benefit of less crash energy being transferred to them, and the fact that the rear impact is usually not as severe.

The forces in a rear impact crash are much different from the forces in a frontal impact crash. In a frontal impact, the forces are much greater because the vehicles are usually traveling in opposite directions. Experts suggest that a frontal crash is the same as hitting a concrete barrier – the vehicle and all occupants come to a dead stop within less than 1 second.

When you are struck in a rear impact, the vehicles involved are traveling in the same direction, and the vehicle that is hit in the back has room to move forward. The crash force on the occupants is much less than in a frontal impact. The movement of the impacted vehicle, in addition to the crush zone, absorbs a lot of the crash energy, so it is not transferred to the child. Additionally, the majority of rear impacts are at low speeds.

In short, if your child is rear-facing, he has optimal protection in the types of crashes you are most likely to be in. If he is forward-facing, he may have optimal protection in a rear-end crash, but statistically, that is the least likely to happen and he is 60% more likely to be injured or killed in the types of crashes (frontal, side impact) you are most likely to be in.

You can learn more about the physics of rear-facing at http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html

what's a waste of money? she's still using it and they make it so it can be rear-facing for up to a certain weight... ?

wow, calm down .natalie. Seriously, there's no need to jump down my throat about this.

If I choose to give .oni french fries, you'd do the same thing.

Because I don't believe a video on youtube.com about a specific child, doesn't make me a *horrible* mother.

This video was made for a woman to change her mind about putting her 8 month old front facing. Not, my 1 year, 25lb, child.

whatever...I've got far too much going on right now to please everyone. If you don't like it, don't respond.

I should have lied...maybe then you'd like my response better.

Sarah

she's not jumping down anyones throat, she's simple posting a video stating that a child under 35 pounds should be backwards, if you choose to put oni facing forward then that's your decision but she's trying to help people by showing them!

she's right, accidents do happen, you can't control what's going to happen no matter how careful you are, because there are always careless drivers out there that could hit you instead. accidents happen.

this has nothing to do with believing a video form you tube. i was using that as an example to illustrate crash results, which in my opinin are astounding, and if after seeing that, you still choose to foward face your baby, you are being very foolish for doing so.
my main point is that this information is coming from credible child safety
resources. there is a reason why sweden and other countries have such a low infant vehile crash mortality rate-they rear face their children until 3 or 4 years old. and the one year, 20 lb thing is a *minimum*, and it is strongly recommended that to protect your childs life, you keep them rear facing until they max out the seat weight requirement.
maybe you should open up your eyes, and stop tying to argue for the sake of arguing. imo, this is not something to mess around with, this is the life of your child that you are willing to risk.
a bite of french fry wont kill her (though it is terrible for her) but one car ride where she is forward facing *can* kill her...her spinal cord and neck can snap- its up to you if you want to take that risk.

ok, im not trying to start anything, really i understand both sides i just want to ask a question

if however 4% are rear crashes arent they frontal crashes too because the person who hit your rear also hit their front?

sorry, not trying to be a smart ass or anything, im just curious if my logic is correct

ive had a bad headache for the last 3 days (actualy just got back from the hospital to be sure everythings ok) and im intriegued by the littlest things

~alicia~

they arent frontal crashes for the person that got rear ended with the baby in the car.