You might have heard the phrase, "your child is 5 times safer in a rear-facing car seats than in a forward-facing car seat", but if not, please click on learn more. Today we would like to share with you the history of the rear-facing car seats.
It was the Swedish Professor Bertil Aldman who discovered the enormous benefits of rear facing children. He started his research very early, in the 1960’s, when car seat safety was far from a priority.
While watching an American TV program, Aldman noticed the position of the astronauts in the Gemini space capsule. By lying on their backs, in opposite direction to the force of acceleration, they were better able to withstand the acceleration. Professor Aldman believed that this principle could be applied to protect a child in the event of a head-on collision.
By 1968 auto manufacturers were getting into the game with the first car seats designed for crash protection. Ford developed the Tot-Guard and General Motors developed the Love Seat for Toddlers, followed quickly by the GM Infant Love Seat (the first rear-facing only restraint). Then there came the Bobby Mac convertible seat.
Then regulations came
It took 9 years from the innovation of safety conscious car seats to the beginning of regulations in US.
In 1971 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration adopted the first federal standards, FMVSS213. At the time requirements did not include crash tests but did require use of a safety belt to hold the car seat into the vehicle and a harness to hold the child in the car seat.
It took 17 years from innovation and 8 years from preliminary regulations before the first state law. In the meantime, millions of children were getting severe injuries due to the lack of knowledge spread among parents.
1979 saw the first child restraint/car seat law in Tennessee.
It took another 6 years until all the states had laws
Of course, innovation precedes regulation. People need to invent products before anyone can make up rules about them. The government needs time to create a committee and criteria to discuss, discuss and send to other people to discuss, before something is written, then it probably has to be handed to someone else to discuss before finally someone else can approve it. That’s the way it seems anyway.
However, still today we do not have 100% usage. It is surprising how, 50 years on from the first car seat ever manufactured, and with the proven benefits of keeping our children rear-facing for as long as possible, that we are this still some way away from our desired usage of rear-facing car seats.
Car seat manufactures keep developing new products which are safer, more comfortable and more accessible to every day customers. Our dream for the future is that today’s children (who will have travelled rear-facing at least until the age of 4) choose to gift "safety" to the next generation of babies and parents-to-be, alongside the more traditional gifts such as strollers and toys.
To wrap it up: At Safety On Board Middle East, we recommend that your children travel with rear-facing car seats for as long as possible, because rear-facing is the safest option for your children.
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