As a caring and responsible parent, you understand that placing your children into size-appropriate car seats is a critical safety measure. After all, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, using car seats reduces a child’s chances of dying in a motor vehicle accident by more than 80%.

You undoubtedly also recognize that putting your child’s car seat in the front part of your vehicle can be dangerous, as deployed airbags can cause kids sitting in the front to suffer catastrophic injuries. Regrettably, placing your child’s car seat in the back of your car also presents some risks.

Seatback collapses

The mechanisms that hold your car’s front seats upright can fail during a rear-end car accident or any other type of accident. If that happens, your car’s front seats can fall backward onto children who are sitting behind them.

When you consider the weight of your car’s front seat, which may be more than 100 pounds, and your body, it is not hard to see how a front seatback collapse can be deadly for a small child. That is, a seatback failure can crush small passengers.

Child safety

To minimize the risks to the young ones in your family, it is important to place your child’s car seat behind vacant front seats or in the third row. Nevertheless, doing so is not always possible, as you sometimes have adult passengers sitting in front seats.

Even though deadly seatback collapses are rare, they often lead to catastrophic injuries for children. Ultimately, if someone you love suffers a serious injury or dies, you may have grounds to pursue substantial financial compensation.