Is it safer to transport a three-year-old child in a forward-facing child restraint system or in a rear-facing one while head-on collision?

Abstract

Currently, it remains a contentious issue whether it is safer to transport children rear-facing or forward-facing — in Sweden, children are transported rear facing up to the age of 4 years and in Australia only up to 6 months. The aim of the study was to investigate whether it is safer to transport a three-year-old child in a forward-facing child restraint system or in a rear-facing one. In the study, a child dummy model of the Q-series representing a 3-year-old child was considered. Biomechanical injury criteria connected with the most important body regions and its critical value were defined. The frontal impact with several impact speeds were analyzed. For all tested configurations a higher risk of serious injury to head and neck was indicated for forward-facing child seat. On this basis, it could be concluded that it is safer to transport a child in the rear-facing child seat.