Risk of Death Among Child Passengers in Front and Rear Seating Positions

Using 1988-95 data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, risk of death was compared among front- and rear-seated passengers ages 12 and younger involved in fatal crashes, controlling for restraint use, passenger airbags, and other variables. Among children sitting in the rear, risk of death was reduced about 35 percent in vehicles without passenger airbags and about 50 percent in vehicles with passenger airbags (difference was not statistically significant). Rear seats were protective for both restrained and unrestrained children. Children were about 10-20 percent less likely to die in rear center than in rear outboard positions.