New Guidelines for Child Passenger Safety

The new AAP Policy Statement  on Child Passenger Safety (April 1, 2011) recommends
 

1. Remain rear facing until at least 2 years.
2. Booster seat (preferably with high back) until seat belt fits, usually 4'9".
3. All children should ride in the back seat until they are 13 years old.

The Injury and Violence Prevention Program has been ahead of the curve: our parent handout, “The Right Seat” supports the new AAP guidelines. Now that national AAP's recommendation is out, we are hopeful that parents who turn their kids at 1 year of 20 pounds will keep them rear facing until 2 years.

Why Rear Facing?

The risk of death or serious injury is five times lower rear facing versus forward facing for children in their second year. When a child rides rear facing, the head, neck, and spine are all supported by the hard shell of the car safety seat and all move together, with little relative movement between body parts. When children ride forward facing, their bodies are restrained by the harness straps, but their heads - which for toddlers are disproportionately large and heavy - are thrown forward, possibly resulting in spine and head injuries.

Why Are Booster Seats Important?

Vehicle seat belts were designed for adults. The lap and shoulder portions of the seat belt generally will not fit young children properly. If the shoulder belt lies close to the neck, it will be uncomfortable for the child, who might then put the shoulder belt under his arm or behind his back where it cannot provide upper body protection in a crash. If the lap belt sits high over the child's abdomen, the child could sustain severe injuries to abdominal organs. The booster seat keeps the lap and shoulder belts over strong bones where they were designed to be, instead of the soft abdomen or neck.

The current law in California, as well as in many other states is not best practice for seat belt use. Keep your school age kids in booster seats longer, until they are about 4'9".

The California Chapter 4, American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Injury, Violence and Poison Prevention (COIVPP), whose members include representatives from the health care community, assisted in the planning and implementation of this community outreach campaign on child passenger safety. For more information on COIVPP, please contact Jamie McDonald, MPH, CHES at jmcdonald@aapca4.org.

California Chapter 4, American Academy of Pediatrics’ staff developed a tool kit of educational materials. The tool kit includes professionally printed flyers (produced in English, Spanish and Vietnamese) available for download on this page. If you are interested in purchasing quantities of materials, please contact Jamie McDonald, MPH, CHES at jmcdonald@aapca4.org for more information.

New AAP policy statement

PDF's available for download:

The Right Seat: English, Spanish, Vietnamese

Child Passenger Safety Educational Flyer: English, Spanish, Vietnamese

New: Car Seat Videos

Why you should keep your child rear facing as long as possible. Watch these videos of rear facing and forward facing crash tests. Click on the title to watch video. (New window will open. Please disable pop-up blockers).

Video Explanations

* No test failures occur in any of these videos.

* All videos are taken from high-speed digital cameras that record 1,000 frames per second, with the exception of the NCAP frontal videos that were recorded on high speed film and then converted to a digital format.

213 Fwd Facing Convertible 9mo: This is an accelerator sled test showing a forward-facing convertible child seat attached using a lap belt and tether. This video can be contrasted with the “213 Rear Facing Convertible 9mo” which shows the same child seat and dummy only rear-facing. 213 Rear Facing Convertible 9mo: (See “213 Fwd Facing Convertible 12mo”)