Center For Auto Safety Offers Safest Sitting Positions For Parents With Toddlers

The US Center for Auto Safety has offered a few tips for parents who travel with toddlers. The lobby group has also lashed out at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for failing to inform parents of proper car-related safety measures.

Center for Auto Safety chief Clarence Ditlow said the NHTSA has done a poor job of educating parents on seat failures during rear collisions. She revealed that the safest place for a child is at the back of an unoccupied front seat or behind the lightest person sitting in the front.

"They know the seatbacks have been collapsing for years," Ditlow told Salon. "They know that if you put a kid behind an occupied seat, you've got a problem. And they've never shared that expertise with the public.''

According to Parents.com, toddlers should be placed at the backseat of the vehicle since it is the safest place during a car crash. Ditlow explained that the NHTSA has been impeccable in telling parents about this fact, but the agency hasn't been specific as to which part of the back seat is the safest.

Earlier this month, the Center for Auto Safety filed a petition asking the NHTSA to update its child seating recommendations. The lobby group are also requiring automobile manufacturers to indicate on the owner's manual that children should be seated at the back seat behind an unoccupied front seat or behind the lightest person sitting in front.

The NHTSA pointed out that seat failure injuries and deaths are far too rare to warrant a major change in the agency's recommendations. At the top of the NHTSA's priorities is automatic emergency braking, a feature which NHTSA representative Gordon Trowbridge said would greatly prevent rear impact crashes from happening in the first place.

Children's Courtyard reminds parents that toddlers should ride cars in a rear-facing manner until they are 2 years old. Children between ages 8 and 12, or who are already 5-feet tall, should be seated normally and must be secured with a seat belt for maximum protection.