Car Seat - safest place in car??

[Nia80]

Hi,

Does anyone know of any research or have an opinion/preference on the best place within a vehicle to fix a rear-facing newborn carseat.

I'm planning on placing it in the back but is it safest behind the driver or passenger seat?

I have an Isofix so just thinking about where to install it.

Thank you, Nia

My understanding is that the safest place for rearfacing is in the middle in the back followed by behind the passenger seat. For forward facing the safest is behind the passenger seat. Accordingly I have RF ds2 (19mo) in the middle and FF ds1 (4.7) behind the passenger seat.

I can't remember where I read it though so it might not be correct.

the safest place for any seat is in the middle in the back (or middle row if you have 3 rows of seats)

if you want it on one side then it's safest behind the passenger

Thanks littleoaktree and bundaberg

I've just checked with Britax and apparantly neither mine nor my OH's cars are suitable for placing seat in middle. Surprising as they are both fairly recent model cars. There is no central Isofix and the centre seatbelts are considered too short.

Anyone know why the passenger side is safer? Is it safer from the chance of impact or is it safer because of easy reach to baby?

it's because of the risk of another vehicle hitting you on the drivers side... if you're on a 2 way street all the traffic is on the drivers side. on motorways if you're in the left hand lane then again all the traffic is on drivers side

Ahhh yes that makes sense. Hadn't thought of that. Guess all accidents depend on the individual impact but would be interesting to know statistics of how many impacts happen on each side. Will have a search around the internet now.