Why is a Rear Facing Car Seat Safer? One of the first places to look for the answer to this question is in statistics. The first statistic to look at is the most common type of crash.
The frontal crash wins hands down with this one. About 72% of all crashes are head on frontal crashes. That's nearly 3 out of every 4 crashes.
There's no way to protect your child against every type of crash in one seat, so to give your child the best possible protection it makes sense to choose a seat that will protect your child against the most common type of crash. The frontal one.
The frontal crash is the most common and often the most severe. Think about it for a moment, with a frontal crash you will go from whatever speed you're traveling to zero often in less than a second.
If you go head on with another vehicle you'll hit it with the combined speed of both vehicles. This will not make a difference to how fast you fly out of the front window should you not be wearing your seatbelt but it will make a difference to the damage of your vehicle since the severity of the accident.
Now back to the question. We've established that it's better to protect your child against a frontal collision. When your car goes from 40 mph to zero really fast the car stops but you and your child do not. You all fly forwards. The rear facing car seat will cradle the whole child reducing the risk of injury.
With a forward facing car seat in a head on collision the child flies forward and is stopped only by the straps. The body stops yet the legs, arms and head carry on going forwards only stopping because they're attached to the body. This is where many severe child injuries are caused.
But what if you're hit from the rear? Crashes to the rear, around 4%, tend to be much slower and therefore less severe, needing less protection to keep your child safe. A crash from the rear in a safety seat facing the back of the vehicle will have the same effect on your child as a frontal crash will for a forward facing safety seat.
Your child's head, arms and legs will fly forward as the torso is stopped by the straps but as the car will most likely be going a lot slower the injuries will be less severe.
Side impact crashes which equate to the remaining 14% tend to have better protection from a rear facing car seat . It stops the head from being thrown out of the shell of the safety seat reducing the chances of a neck injury.