17/06/2026
For children aged 0–3, the data highlights a clear safety gap in real-world use. Many of the children who died were not travelling rear-facing as recommended, and a significant share were either turned forward too early or not restrained at all.
❗️69% were not travelling according to recommendations (rear-facing to at least 4 years old).
❗️Only 28% were in a rear-facing seat, while 34% were forward-facing, and 33% were unrestrained.
❗️Nearly half (up to approximately 48%) of fatalities were assessed as potentially survivable with rear-facing.
Among children under four who were in a forward-facing seat, studies estimates that 12 out of 19 (63%) could have survived if they had been rear-facing instead.
Sweden is a global leader in traffic safety, built on Vision Zero and strict regulations. In the report “Child safety in cars”, we found that 84% of children up to four years travel rear-facing, in contrast to the UK where only 22% of 2-3 years old travel rear-facing.
