How does this work rear facing …

[BarnacleBetty]

Hi

I’ve always been enthusiastic that when our 10 month old outgrows his infant carrier we will upgrade to a ERF seat.

However, a couple of weeks ago a family we know were in a road traffic accident from behind in which the boot and rear-passenger side were destroyed. Everyone was fine (testament to modern car safety and modern car seat safety) but they had to remove their toddler quickly from the vehicle as it looked like it would possibly be a fire risk. To do this they were easily able to reach over and unbuckle the child (who was behind the passenger seat) and take them out of the front of the vehicle … this was done in seconds as he was forward facing (and I should reiterate totally fine, not decapitated, barely bruised).

How would this work in a rear facing seat? Is it possible to rescue from the front in an emergency? I’ve tried to google but couldn’t seem to get the right search terms.

I don’t think it will change my mind about ERF but I can’t help wondering about how the stats could be altered on account of difficulty to rescue…

No 2 accidents are exactly the same. Whilst it may not apply to that 1 specific accident we know that in the vast majority of accidents rear facing is much safer than forward facing. This is especially for a child under 18 months due to their underdevelopment neck muscles. You can’t plan or prepare for every single accident, you just have to do what’s safest most of the time and also you can’t legally forward face before 15 months with new seats so that’s the decision out of your hands really given your baby is only 10 months.

I also have a relative who apparently avoided injury in an accident years ago only because they were not wearing a seatbelt and were able to fling themselves into the passenger seat to avoid the impact. Niche circumstances though and we know that in most accidents seatbelts save lives and how important it is to wear one. Your friend’s accident and the forward facing seat is basically the same principle.

I am asking specifically about rescuing from a rear facing seat, not about the safety of the seat or whether to get a FF seat as I will be getting an ERF seat. I’m also not discussing my friend’s decisions as I have enough on making my own parenting decisions to get involved in other people’s.

Although as you point out, all accidents are different, after an accident if everyone is still in the car, the adults will likely be in the front seat position therefore I think it’s reasonable to consider how you would rescue from that position. In an ideal world you’d be able to exit and use a rear door but as all accidents are different that might not be possible.

It is relevant to me now because my child is currently rear facing (so I could have just framed my query without mentioning ERF!) and although they are only 10 months they will need another seat in the future.

My kids were in rear facing seats until they were five, and it's been a while now but I am fairly certain I would have been able to reach their buckles to release them and lift them into the front seat at 18 months. They were closer to the front of the car than they would have been in front facing seats. When they were older it would have been trickier to lift them, but the same would have applied to a front facing child, and I still could have released the buckle, jumped out the car to open the door so they could climb out themselves. If the rear door wasn't working by two my kids were more than capable of jumping out of their seat and clambering into the front of the car themselves.

If you think you'd struggle to do that with your current seat it may be because newer RF car seats seem to be very bulky. We had the Britax TWE which was great for kids being able to get in and out themselves and lasted two higher percentile kids until I was ready for them to go front facing.

Ah perfect that’s what I was wondering and good point about them being closer to the seat in front! I also forgot to consider the super human powers of adrenaline that would probably make anything possible in the moment!

Emergency services who do most of the rescuing encourage rear facing suits so conclude what you will from that.

Also a DC in a rear facing seat is actually closer to you than one who is forward facing so whilst yes you’d have to reach round it might actually be easier especially if it’s a large car.

Yes, it's been years since I've carried either of my children and they are big boys now but I think if they were about to go up in flames I'd still manage a fireman's lift 😂

If you can't open a door you can still get them from the othetsid or by smashing a window

I think in this specific exact situation you might be right that it's easier to rescue from the front.

However I don't think it is helpful to focus on specific scenarios - it's a bit like someone saying "I don't wear a seatbelt because I know someone who was saved because their seatbelt was unfastened and if they had been wearing one they would have died" - there are always exceptions, but when you look at the data across all accidents, seatbelts overwhelmingly save lives.

I think with the rear facing seats we've had - some have been spin seats, so could potentially spin the seat to face the centre or the front and remove the child quickly that way. Or an adult could climb through to the back to release the child, or lean across from the opposite-side front seat. Or an adult could get out of the car, open the back door and rescue the child, or a third party rescuer/firefighter could open the back door and rescue the child. Some of these may take a few seconds longer than reaching into the back.

I'm glad your friend's toddler was OK. Forward facing seats fitted and used correctly still save lives in accidents. Some of the rhetoric about forward facing being less safe is extreme and misleading. Rear facing does have a significant safety benefit, more so the younger the child. As they get older the difference seems to be less stark. On balance, it's usually worth it to rear face as long as it is working for everyone, but I think there is a bit more room for trade off as the child gets older.

As someone else said, one benefit of a RF seat is that the child is physically closer to the front of the car which can be protective in a rear shunt. When FF, it's not good for the child to be too close to the front seat because they can hit their head on it in an accident.

If you have an EV it might be more prudent to consider fire safety as I understand EV batteries can ignite very suddenly, whereas petrol/diesel fuel tanks have an extraordinary amount of safeguards to try to avoid them catching fire even if you do crash. (I'm sure EV batteries do too, I just seem to recall reading about fire being a particular danger here.)