Using an overseas baby car seat to prolong rear facing for my DD in the car

[missymoo84]

A child is best protected in a forward facing child seat with integral 6 point harness from when they reach 9kg or 70cm tall (about 9 months) until they reach 18kg (around the 4th birthday).

This was interesting. I can't open this link... anyone know why?
http://www.racv.com.au/wps/wcm/resources/file/eb37aa4eafc9302/child%20restraint%20evaluation%20program%20results %20(CREP)%20december%202007.pdf

[missymoo84]

Yeah Tracy I think it's because that video was American with no top tether. My boys didn't even get whiplash in our accident (but I did badly).
I would have also liked them to add a video of a rear end collision to that youtube thing so it wasn't so one sided as a rear end collision wouldn't have caused the FF dummy to fly forward like that.
I read the link that was posted and the above quote was interesting. I want to read that study but I can't open it

[Tracey]

sorry the article i got my quote from is this one http://members.optusnet.com.au/mpain...r193_paine.pdf

just realised I left it off my previous post.

[Bek]

ok, I've just read through that particular document in full.
what they're saying is that there haven't been documented cases in Australia of deceleration forces alone causing neck injuries in a correctly restrained child in a forward facing seat.
However they have many cases where head and neck injuries resulted due to the head coming into contact with something else during the crash (while extended due to the decelaration forces) causing injury. they have no data mentioned as to whether the likelihood of the head coming into contact with other things during a crash is less when using a rear-facing restraint rather than forward facing. in fact there is pretty much no mention of rear-facing restraints at all, so I don't think that particular quote can necessarily be seen as proving that rearfacing isn't 'better' (not really the word I want, but I can't think of a more suitable one atm)

Looking at the tables on the pdf brochure that Lucy linked to in a previous post, none of the forward facing restraints scored 4 stars for protection from injury in a crash, whereas at least 4 of the rear-facing ones did (with the same seats performing considerably worse when forward facing)

for me, this indicates that rear-facing is still safer when your child is within the height and weight limits to do so.
the limits are there because that's just what they've done testing for, they don't have data beyond those limits. if people don't push for these things to be available, then it's unlikely that manufacturers etc are going to spend money on development and testing.

some things about Australian standards are a lot better than international standards, but I do think that there are many improvements that could be made.
and of course there is always the issue of compliance by parents which is a completely different kettle of fish entirely.

[Tracey]

I did also read through the article in full, and it seems to me that the head contact is occuring when the Child Restraint is not being properly used. There appears to be more cases of head contact overseas where the tether strap is not being used. Like you Bek I would also like to see stats on the occurance of head contact while rear facing.

Of course there will be cases where the car is so severely damaged that injury will occur and I imagine (my own thought) that a rear facing seat would not be likely to make much difference in those situations. I would like to see statistics on this though.

I am all for using the restraints in the rear facing position for as long as possible. My DS has only just be turned to forward facing at 12 months old and only because he no longer fitted within the limits for rear facing. If I could have kept him rear facing for longer I would have, but I can't and after watching the video yesterday I had nightmares all night and did not sleep wondering how to rear-face DS again. I had to go looking for some form of reassurance that the tether strap (lacking in the video) would actually make a significant difference to protect my child.

[Lucy]

deleted - addressed in the article posted
http://members.optusnet.com.au/mpain...r193_paine.pdf

[missymoo84]

I felt much the same Tracy. As responsible parents we all do what we can to protect our children. My boys can't be rear facing because they are too heavy for it so I am glad that there was evidence to say that forward facing is safest when they need to be turned. Lets hope we follow suit and bring in rear facing seats for larger children that INCLUDE the tether strap

[ednaboo]

Re: the new laws, the recommendations are here
Site Browser Information and see also here for the law on restraints in Vic:
the law and standards on child restraints - RACV

As you can see, there is nothing there to allow or encourage rearfacing beyond 12kg. In fact, the change is that infant seats will be tested and re-rated from the old 9kg limit to 12kg, which will be at around 12 months of age. It's a pity they didn't suggest 12 months of age in the recommendations, or at least 9 mo.

The main injuries and deaths in Aus seem to be not due to infants being inappropriately restrained, but due to toddlers being moved out of harnessed seats too early. I have been following discussions about both extended rear-facing and the new laws over at EB. I'm assuming you have read those discussions (some of which are 4-5 pgs long). I turned my DD at 14mo, and about 11kg - her seat is rated to 9kg as it's manufactured in 2004, but has since been re-rated to 12kg.