In 2002, Anton’s Law (Public Law 107-318) directed NHTSA to require 3-point belts for each rear seating position – including center rear seats – in new passenger motor vehicles by September 1, 2007. Manufacturers had begun installing 3-point belts at the center rear seats in some makes and models as early as 1994 and completed the transition from lap belts to 3-point belts on time. Double-pair comparison and logistic regression analyses of FARS data for 1990 to 2014 show that 3-point belts are highly effective in the center rear seats: Buckling up reduces passengers’ fatality risk by an estimated 58 percent in passenger cars (95% confidence bounds: 41% to 69%) and by 75 percent in LTVs (confidence bounds: 63% to 84%). In cars of the 1960s and 70s, when few people buckled up, the rear seats were substantially safer than the front seats for unrestrained occupants, and the center rear seat even safer than the outboard rear seats. These differences between seats have substantially diminished over the past 30 years. Statistical analyses of FARS do not show statistically significant mitigation of fatality risk for outboard rear or center rear seats of passenger cars relative to the driver’s or right front seats, for belted occupants of the same age and gender. Corresponding analyses of LTVs show reduced fatality risk for the right front and right rear seats relative to the driver’s seat; however, they do not show significant advantages for the outboard rear or center rear seats relative to the right front seats. (Author/publisher)
Abstract