The Parent Report: New Recommendations For Car Seat Safety
BOSTON (CBS) - They're the latest recommendations for kids and car seats.
Podcast
Car seat safety...it's a subject we've talked about often on the Parent Report. Now there are some new recommendations...that kids should ride in rear-facing car seats until they're at least two-years old, instead of just a year old.
Jennifer Hoekstra of the Michigan-based Safe Kids Program says for toddlers, rear-facing car seats make sense. She says it's a big improvement over the usual car seat that faces toward the front of the car.
Hoekstra emphasizes the reason for waiting until a child is two before turning them around inside the car.
According to an analysis of five years of U.S. crash data, 1-year-old kids are five times less likely to be injured in a crash if they are in a rear-facing car seat. These are recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Highway Traffic Administration.
Some advice might seem a bit extreme, but Hoekstra says it has its benefits.
