Why a Rear Facing Car Seat?
A rear-facing car seat provides better protection for your child than a forward-facing car seat. It reduces the risk of injury in the event of a collision. Studies clearly show that rear-facing car seats are significantly safer than forward-facing alternatives. Young children travelling rearward-facing are five times safer than children in forward-facing car seats.
Because of the evidence, many manufacturers recommend that children should travel in a rear-facing car seat up to at least 4-5 years old.
Axkid recommends having your children travelling in a rear-facing car seat for as long as possible, up to 25 kg and 6 years. The reason is that the safety and protection effect is 90-95% in a rear-facing car seat, compared to 60-70% in a forward-facing car seat.
"A rear-facing child seat reduces the risk of injury in a head-on collision by more than 80% when compared to a conventional forward-facing seat with harness system, as the force of an impact is distributed evenly over a large area."
- VTI – Swedish Road and Transport Research Institute (Rapport 489A, 2003)
To best understand the safety benefits for children travelling in a rear-facing car seat, it is necessary to see the difference in the forces of a car crash on a child in a front-facing versus a rear-facing car seat. This frontal car crash video shows this difference in forces.
What is ERF (Extended Rear Facing)?
Typically, ERF seats are classed as car seats that can be used in a rear-facing position beyond nine months of age. However, there is a debate as to whether the benchmark for 'extended' be from four years instead. The Axkid Minikid 3 surpasses both by far, making it a truly ERF car seat.
Axkid Minikid 3 is a revolutionary update from the bestseller and award-winning Axkid Minikid 2 that allows real extended rear-facing up to 7 years of age. With the longest back length on the market, the Minikid 3 stretches the rear-facing period even longer allowing real extended rear-facing up to 125 cm and 36 kg.