Here’s How Long Children Should Ride in Rear-Facing Car Seats

The old advice was to keep children in rear-facing car seats until they were at least 12 months old. This is why you might hear some well-intentioned friends or family members tell you that it’s okay to put your child in a forward-facing seat at the first birthday. But actually, the longer your child stays rear-facing, the safer he or she is. Newer car seats have higher rear-facing weight limits. This means that almost all children can stay rear-facing until age two or even beyond!

Car seats work by absorbing some of the force of the impact and distributing the rest of it. Since there’s no one part of an infant’s body that is capable of withstanding the force of an impact, rear-facing car seats distribute the force equally among the back, neck, and head. This reduces the stress exerted on any one body part. And since rear-facing car seats provide better neck and head support than forward-facing seats, infants have a reduced risk of these serious accident-related injuries.

Michael J’s Body Shop, which provides auto collision repairs in San Jose, reminds parents to replace their car seats after an accident. For expert bumper repair and other types of auto body repairs, give us a call at 408-279-2070.