Start your child in a rear-facing car seat in the back seat
Experts recommend keeping children rear-facing up to age 4
If your child outgrows their car seat before age 4, change to a seat with higher rear-facing weight and height limits
Leg crowding is expected and does not harm the child
Small children are more vulnerable and likely to be injured if forward facing
A rear‐facing car seat cradles your child and absorbs crash forces, reducing harm to neck and spine.
Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences
at Old Dominion University
Community Health and Research
E.V. Williams Hall Pediatrics
855 W. Brambleton Avenue
Norfolk, Virginia 23510
Phone: 1-757-446-5799
E-mail: carsafetynow@evms.edu
Materials are free for educational, nonprofit use; citation is appreciated.
The Car Safety Now program was supported by a series of grants from the Virginia DMV Highway Safety Office (Principal Investigator: Kelli England, Ph.D.). The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Virginia DMV, or Virginia Highway Safety Office.