Closed petition Make it a legal requirement to rear-face until minimum aged 4

Closed on 6 July 2022

The Government should raise the minimum age for forward-facing in height-based car seats from 15 months to 4 years old. The current guidelines for height-based seats say that children must be rear-facing until they are over 15 months old.

There are concerns that small children's necks are not developed enough to protect the spinal cord, potentially risking severe injury from forward-facing seats.

When forward-facing in a crash, some research suggests that children’s heads are subjected to stress loads of 180 to 300kg. When rear-facing they are subjected to only 40 to 80kg which is a huge difference.

This research suggests that rear-facing lowers the risk of death or serious injury to 8%. It should be illegal to forward face before the age of 4 unless under certain circumstances, such as a disability.