Knowing When to Turn the Carseat
One reason motor vehicle fatalities have steadily declined in recent years is mandated use of child safety seats, with rear-facing seats being especially important to help protect infants in a crash. Unfortunately, a recent study conducted by the University of Michigan found that a vast majority of all parents shift such seats to forward-facing positions far too early.
The American Academy for Pediatrics recommends that children remain in rear-facing restraints until they’re two years old or have otherwise outgrown the seats’ stated weight and height limits.
Unfortunately, the study found that nearly three-quarters of parents with young children switched their kids’ seats to a forward-facing position before their second birthdays, with 24 percent making the switch at or before 12 months.
“Getting parents to delay the transition to a forward-facing seat still represents an opportunity to improve passenger safety in the U.S.,” says the study’s lead author Michelle L. Macy, M.D., M.S., of the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.