I was excited to see that an automobile manufacturer had weighed in on car seats and child safety. One facet of the argument we make against the efficacy of child car seats is that government standards for car seats cut the automakers out of the safety loop to some degree, creating some misaligned incentives between regulators, automakers, and car seat manufacturers.
According to this article in the Australian newspaper The Age, the Swedish automaker Volvo has found a number of shortcomings with existing car-seat practices. Its recommendations are based on “independent crash tests and investigations of more than 4,500 crashes involving children,” and argue that:
Young children are much safer facing the rear of the car and should ride that way until age three or four (as they commonly do in Sweden), rather than facing forward starting at six months or one year. “[C]hildren should be in booster seats until at least age 10 to ensure seatbelts are positioned correctly across their chests without riding up to their necks.” “Current child seats require feeding the seatbelt and attaching a top tether, something that takes time and is often not performed properly. An RACV report in 2004 estimated that child seats were incorrectly fitted as much as 70 per cent of the time.”
All that said, there was no word about Volvo pushing for a further integration of child-safety measures into the cars themselves, hopefully obviating the need for an add-on piece of equipment made by a third party which has been shown to provide minimal benefit.
But I suppose it is a step forward nonetheless that an automaker is speaking out on child safety. That is not necessarily an easy thing to do. You may recall that when Robert S. McNamara (yes, the same one) tried to push Ford to install seat belts in its cars in the 1950′s, Ford feared that “selling safety” was bad for business in that it reminded people that cars were inherently unsafe.
(Hat tip: Kevin Hayes and Ben Glasson.)
and 
. You can also watch it on 
1) Can you get your new pals at IV to develop a better seat belt for the rear of the car?
2) I hear a lot about kids facing the rear until they are 4, but I don’t see how it is possible. My kid’s legs were getting jammed up against the seat at 18 months. I just don’t see how it is possible or comfortable to ride that way.
New child seat needed? And it is possible also you see why when you see the accidents that can kill a small child. The neck cannot support the head adequately and even in small accidents children can get injured and die. I have seen such an accident the car was completely intact with minimal damage all other occupants got out but because the child was facing forward she died from her injuries and it was extremely sad as facing backwards she would’ve been absolutely fine.
Even if they are safe, car seats can be infuriating if you cannot use them. This visualization http://www.tableausoftware.com/blog/dot-car-seat-ratings%3A-we-viz-safest-models uses DOT data to show the models that are easiest to use.
A car definitely would have to have legs extending through the back seat into the trunk for a 4 year old; however, that doesn’t seem that hard. The other option would be to just have a regular car seat facing backwards behind the passenger seat, as an option for people that have children, or a reversible seat.
As cars are made now, there is no way you could comfortably fit a 4 year old in a rear facing car seat.
It seems like Volvo actually designs child seats themselves, as an integrated solution:
http://www.volvocars.com/intl/sales-services/sales/car-devices/child-safety/pages/default.aspx
/Bror
And what’s the developmental impact of a kid facing a wall for what can easily be an hour or more each day?
Does anybody have any pictures of how the Swedish kids manage to ride facing backwards? They get so tall so fast…
Anyway, back to reading my double signed copy of Super Freakonomics
Isn’t the point of ISOFIX to change the design of cars so that installing child seats correctly (without the need for seatbelts) is simpler?
There’s a decent pic of a good sized kid (def older than 1) facing backwards on the volvo link Bror attached @ post no.4. In the 9 to 25 Kilo section, it seems like the carseat has a foot/leg extension with a footrest that effectively pushes the seat itself away from the forward facing seat of the car to provide room. I have never seen anything like this in the states.