CHICAGO (AP) — Children should ride in rear-facing car seats longer, until they are 2 years old instead of 1, according to updated advice from a medical group and a federal agency.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued separate but consistent new
recommendations Monday.
Both organizations say older children who've
outgrown front-facing car seats should ride in booster seats until the
lap-shoulder belt fits them. Booster seats help position adult seat belts
properly on children's smaller frames. Children usually can graduate from a
booster seat when their height reaches 4 feet 9 inches.
Children younger than 13 should ride in the back
seat, the guidelines from both groups say.
The advice may seem extreme to some parents, who
may imagine trouble convincing older elementary school kids — as old as 12 — to
use booster seats.
But it's based on evidence from crashes. For older
children, poorly fitting seat belts can cause abdominal and spine injuries in a
crash.
One-year-olds are five times less likely to be
injured in a crash if they are in a rear-facing car seat than a forward-facing
seat, according to a 2007 analysis of five years of U.S. crash data.
Put another way, an estimated 1,000 children
injured in forward-facing seats over 15 years might not have been hurt if they
had been in a car seat facing the back, said Dr. Dennis Durbin, lead author of
the recommendations and a pediatric emergency physician at Children's Hospital
of Philadelphia.
Toddlers have relatively large heads and small
necks. In a front-facing car seat, the force of a crash can jerk the child's
head causing spinal cord injuries.
Car seats have recommended weights printed on them.
If a 1-year-old outweighs the recommendation of an infant seat, parents should
switch to a different rear-facing car seat that accommodates the heavier weight
until they turn 2, the pediatricians group says.
Luckily for parents, most car seat makers have
increased the amount of weight the seats can hold. This year, about half of
infant rear-facing seats accommodate up to 30 pounds, Durbin said. Ten years
ago, rear-facing car seats topped out at children weighing 22 pounds.
"The good news is it's likely parents
currently have a car seat that will accommodate the change," Durbin said.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations
appear Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
Copyright
2011 The Associated Press.
