Volvia Child Safety in Cars 2022: Report now available in English

The Child Safety in Cars report provides, for the 12th consecutive year, an in-depth overview of conditions relating to children’s safety in vehicles in Sweden. The report is produced in both Swedish and English and is cited in various research contexts all over the world, most recently at Child Occupant Protection: Latest knowledge and future opportunities in Gothenburg 2022 and at Protection of Children in Cars in Munich 2021.

For adults, the combination of a seat belt and airbag is crucial for reducing the risk of serious injury or death in a car crash. But what about children – are they travelling as safely as adults in Sweden? In many cases yes, especially when it comes to very young children. However, this year’s report shows that there are a lot of challenges and areas for improvement, particularly relating to children aged 3 and older. Many of the challenges relate to adults’ knowledge.

In order for children to travel safely, additional protection designed specifically for children is required. For example, the risk of being seriously injured or dying can be reduced fivefold if children travel rear-facing until they are 4-5 years old. It is also important that older children who travel forward-facing use a child restraint system up to the age of 10-12, since this can reduce the risk of serious injuries to the head, neck or abdominal organs.

The survey shows that Swedish parents are safety conscious and consider it important that children travel safely. 97% of children up to the age of 8 use some form of child restraint system. It is also very gratifying to see that many parents keep their children in rear-facing seats until they are around 4 years old. As many as 99% of children 0-2 and 79% of children 2-4 sit in rear-facing child seats or infant seats. 

But we also see that the proportion of children placed in forward-facing restraints before the age of four has remained relatively consistent at 20%, year after year. The age of four seems to be a turning point: the survey shows that as many as 77% of four-year-olds travel forward-facing. This means that there is still a large number of children who are vulnerable to unnecessary risk of serious injury, and at a very early age when many four-year-olds are still physically too small to safely sit in forward-facing child restraints. It is also alarming that there are 7-year-olds who travel with no form of child restraint system whatsoever, and that 26% of children in the 8-11 age group never use a booster cushion or booster seat. Children in this age group have not usually developed sufficiently physically to travel in vehicles using only a seat belt. There is a considerable lack of knowledge among parents regarding this. When asked at what age a child can stop using a child restraint system, a full 60% do not know or answer incorrectly.

About Volvia

Volvia is an expert in insurances for Volvo cars. We have been working on various road safety issues for around 60 years, and on children’s safety specifically since 2009, which is when we recognised the need to more clearly address the fact that children have as much right as adults to travel safely on the road. The current Swedish recommendations regarding age have spread all across the globe and are based on many years of research carried out by various Swedish operators, including Volvo and Volvia's Head of Traffic Research Magdalena Lindman.