Rear-Facing Infants in Back Seat Often Responsible for Accidents

1 November 1999

Study: Rear-Facing Infants in Back Seat Often Responsible for Accident-Causing Distractions

    COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--Oct. 29, 1999--A rear-facing child in the back seat of a car was killed due to the driver crossing a median and hitting a tractor trailer.
    When rescuers arrived the mother was moaning, "I only turned around for a second, I only turned around for a second." Accident-causing distraction from a rear-facing infants in the back seat are much too commonplace.
    A study which determines that: Eight out of 10 parents say that rear-facing infants in back-seat represent a serious hazard was made available to participants of the October 23 to 26, Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) annual show.
    According to the survey released by the Fraser Group and NFO Worldwide, nearly 60 percent of U.S. parents say that driving alone with infants in rear-facing car seats placed in the back seat is "very distracting," and about eight out of 10 (83 percent) fear that when alone in a car with a rear-facing infant in the back seat, the rear-facing infant often causes distractions which may result in accidents.
    In stark contrast to current transportation safety guidelines, the survey shows that majority of parents believe infants in the back seat create serious distraction for drivers. The suggestion that "all children in the back seat", should not include rear-facing infants who cause harmful distractions when in the back seat.
    The study, a third phase of a three phase study, has 95 percent statistical confidence level, with plus or minus five percent precision. The study, with data gathering by NFO Research Inc., was based on 476 completed interviews representing 40 percent of the total sample of 1,200.
    Results of this survey are consistent with the previous phases which were based on interviews and focus groups of a smaller sample, but limited to those previously engaged in a crashes with rear-facing infant in the car.
    Seventy-three percent of respondents would use an airbag-compatible, rear-facing infant seat, on the passenger seat where they belong.
    At JPMA, Xportation Safety Concepts Inc. (XSCi), displayed a production prototype of its airbag-compatible infants seat. The seat was tested interacting with airbags, in the U.S. and Europe. Results proved it safe with an airbag, safer than conventional seats even without an airbag. NHTSA described the seat as one it expects would: reduce, or possibly eliminate fatalities risk to infants in rear-facing child seat positioned in front of an airbag.
    For information, contact Sharon Harnisch at 719/593-8882.