Rear-facing Infants in the Back Seat Cause Measurable Loss of Lives
11 July 2000
XSCi: Report Verifies: Rear-facing Infants in the Back Seat Cause Measurable Loss of Lives, and Added Injuries
Business Editors
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--July 11, 2000--A report
by Stucki Engineering and Information Services, Inc. (SEISI) concludes
that should a rear-facing infant seat which functions interacting with
airbags in a manner similar to the XSCi seat performance (in tests by
Morton International, Audi, Chrysler, and others), be available and
generally placed in the front seat, many lives will be saved and
incapacitating injuries reduced. Distractions cause crashes, and
infants in the back seat are distracting to drivers.
The report was generated by Mr. Lee Sheldon Stucki, a mechanical
engineer who until recently spent twenty-five years as a NHTSA expert
in a number of road vehicle safety areas. Mr. Stucki, who authored a
number of technical papers and safety standards, is well known in the
industry as a highly credible technical resource. He was retained by
XSCi to quantify the projected net savings in lives and reduction in
incapacitating injuries, an Airbag Compatible Rear-facing Infant
Safety Seat (ACRISS) would yield. The SEISI report uses Final Economic
Assessment and other NHTSA techniques. Data for the study came
primarily from NHTSA sources. In its conservative nature the SEIS
report does not take into account the potential for saving , or
reducing injuries, of drivers/care-takers.
A presentation at the 1998 Society of Automotive Engineers annual
Congress by Joseph N. Kanianthra, Ph.D. (Director, of various NHTSA
Offices), showed a NHTSA video depicting distractions causing loss of
vehicle lane control. The presentation prompted XSCi to retain SEISI
to help quantify the potential for crashes due to distractions from
rear-facing infants in the back seat. SEISI was to also compare said
distractions to distractions by rear-facing infants in the front seat.
Other studies were commissioned which made it clear, consistent with
anecdotal information, that infants in the rear seat require more
unexpected and lengthy attention than do infants in the front seat.
The SEISI report points to the fact that there is very likely a
significant net loss of lives, and added incapacitating injuries, due
to putting rear-facing infants in the back seat. There were eighteen
death due to airbags since the introduction of passenger airbags to
the market. Mr. Stucki, based on NHTSA fatality estimates, suggests
that a larger number of infant lives will be lost annually due crashes
caused by distractions from the back seat.
Following extracted from Government documents and weighted by Mr.
Stucki: Please note that the numbers are quite conservative
Table 1. Comparison of Infants in CSS's for On-Road Use (19 City
Study) and in Crashes (1990 to 1991 NASS-GES)
In the In the Total Front
front seat Rear Seat and Rear
---------------- ---------------- -----------------
Infants On-Road Crashes On Road Crashes On Road Crashes
in Raw # NA 175 NA 291 NA 466
Child (a)Wtd. 923 26681 997 42898 1920 69579
Seats Row % 18.07% 38.35% 51.93% 61.65
(a) A weighting factor is used to account for the fact that the front
seat is inherently less safe than is the back seat; Only infant
casualties considered, while leaving out drivers/care-takers.
The Stucki report states that the above table...shows that, rear
seat occupancy by infants in child safety seats is about 52 percent
during normal driving or "on road" compared to about 62 percent in
crashes. This would indicate that when infants are in the front seat
vehicles have a rate of crashes per "on road" vehicle which is about
33 percent lower than when infants are in the rear seat.
Supplemented by other Government data, and using 1998 NHTSA
statistics, projections, and methodology, the SEISI report concludes
that:
By not placing rear-facing infants in the back seat, the annual
savings in lives and reduction in incapacitating injuries, is likely
to be:
-- 35 infant lives, saved by 100% placing of ACRISS in the front
seat
-- 680 incapacitating injuries eliminated by placing 100% ACIRSS
in the front seat
-- 21 fatalities, saved by 50% placing of ACRISS in the front
seat
-- 437 incapacitating injuries eliminated by placing 50% ACRISS
50% in the front
*T
Released: Arlington, TX
June 9, 2000
Overview
Based on NHTSA own Data,
New Report Verifies:
Due to Driver distractions,
Rear-facing Infants in the Back Seat Cause, or Contribute to,
Crashes, Resulting in a Net Loss of Lives.
Actual Report, Research, and Analysis, Prepared
Under Contract to XSCi for the
Child Passenger Safety Conference
by:
Stucki Engineering and Information Services, Inc.,
Arlington, VA 22205
For Additional Information Contact:
Xportation Safety Concepts, Inc. (XSCi),
Colorado Springs, CO 80907
