Quite good article without drama. A few points:
- UK consumers are very misled by confusing information and outright lies by manufacturers and retail stores. This is not typical for UK, it's the same in US and most other countries.
- Most retail stores oppose rear facing seats since it's more profitable and easier to sell forward facing seats for a 9 month old. This is the same in all countries outside Sweden. Selling rear facing seats demand staff that know a little more and it's overall less profitable to sell rear facing seats. That it's 500% safer, or five times safer, is a point most don't care aobut
- I was confused byt the term of "legal Scandinavian guidelines" in the article. Most articles refer to Sweden since we have been rear facing kids since 1965 and have so much expereince. The law regarding car seat use is the same in Sweden as rest of Europe.
Our reserahcers have always worked clsoely with government and organizations and we therefore strongly advice parents to keep their children rear facing until age 4 or longer. This is not a law but a recommendation most thankfully follow
- Rear facing seats does in general require a little more time to install than forward facing seats. This is changing though since we have more and more rear facing seats with Isofix. Installing an Isofix seat is done in seconds.
- A great strenth of rear facing seats which is never talked about is that they are very forgiving for poor installation. As long as seat belt is fastened in the car seat and child is in the seat protection is fantastic. We know this very well since we do deep studies in Sweden of every accident with a child. Swedish parents make many mistakes as well regarding installation but despite this it's almsot unheard of a rear facing child who has been seriously injured or died in an accident.
This is due to physics of rear facing seats, the child is stopped by the back of the car seat and forces are spread nicely throughout the body. Things are very different for children in forward facing seats. If the harness isn't tight and in perfect position bad things will likely happen in an accident even at low speed. People who use forward facing seats make mistakes installing as well.
- It never hurts to point our our expreince with rear facing seats. Over the last 45 years of rear facing we have found that it's almost impossible for a rear facing child to die or become seriosly injured regardless of circumstances
- Most European cars have an airbag in front passnger seat which can be deactivated. Using the front passenger seat is an excellent place for any child as long as airbag is deactivated. It's just as safe as the rear, actually safer for a rear facing child when we look at all factors.
- I know Helena who was interviewed in the article. SHe has done great work in UK in informaing others about rear facing seats. It's true that most parents have no idea about rear facing past 9 months since information in UK is so poor.
