CYBEX recommends that children travel in rear-facing car seats for as long as possible, ideally up to the age of four. A rear-facing position is optimal as the energy of a frontal collision is distributed evenly over the large area of the seat, and the vulnerable areas of the child’s body are better protected.
This recommendation is supported by test results from leading, independent German consumer organisation such as Stiftung Warentest and the highly regarded General German Automobile Club ADAC as well as by the UN Norm R129: This regulation determines that children need to travel in a rear-facing position until they have reached 15 months of age and 76 cm in height.
Sometimes, it may be necessary to switch a toddler to a forward-facing position before the age of four. For example, a new vehicle may be smaller or the child may get travel sickness when sat rear-facing.
For these situations, CYBEX forward-facing car seats feature impact shields with or without airbag technology, offering excellent protection without confining the child.
In fact, the Anoris T i-Size’s airbag technology allows it to deliver identical or better protection compared to a rear-facing car seat. It also delivers 50% better protection than forward-facing car seats with five-point harness systems.
Booster seats are designed to adapt the car's safety belt system to the size of the child. We recommend using a booster seat equipped with an adjustable backrest and lateral side-impact protection. Booster seats without backrests or side protection pose a high risk of severe injury in the event of an accident (source: Kirk A. Lesire P. (2021) Report on Accident Analysis. Deliverable 3.2.3 of CASPER Project).
A child seat with a backrest has side protectors that prevent the child from hitting the window in the case of a side impact collision. With a booster seat, however, the vulnerable parts of the child’s body are not sufficiently protected. Additionally, the routing of the seat belt cannot be adjusted to the height of the child so that the belt is often too close to the neck and not perfectly matching the hip area. Thanks to the backrest, the child is accompanied by the seat as it grows.
Additionally, the child not only sits much firmer in the seat itself but is also much better protected due to the correct position of the seat belt. For that reason, we recommend to move into a high back booster seat at the latest possible age coming from a forward-facing or rear-facing toddler seat.
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