If you have young children in your family, you probably also have some worries about their safety in your car, truck or SUV. After all, according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, car accidents are the second-most common cause of child and adolescent deaths in the U.S.
Rear-end collisions can be particularly hazardous for the young ones in your family. This is because your kids are likely to be closest to the point of impact. Still, because of the risk of a front seat collapse, you may want to rethink where you have your children ride.
What is a front seat collapse?
A rear-end accident transfers considerable force from the vehicle behind you into yours. This force is often sufficient to break the internal mechanisms that hold your front seats upright. When these mechanisms break, gravity naturally pulls the backs of your front seats backward.
If your children are sitting directly behind you or a front seat passenger, they may suffer catastrophic injuries when the front seat falls on them. That is, the combined weight of your front seat and your body are likely to crush your kids.
How can you keep your children safe?
Your safety strategy probably depends on the type of vehicle you drive. If possible, you may want to place your children’s car seats in the third row, leaving empty seats directly in front of your kids. For smaller vehicles, though, consider placing the kids behind a vacant front passenger seat whenever possible.
Ultimately, if your children sustain serious and life-changing injuries because of a front seat collapse, you may have a direct route for pursuing significant financial compensation.