Rear seating and risk of injury to child occupants by vehicle type.

In this study, the safety of rear-seated child passengers was evaluated across the following vehicle types: extended cab pickup trucks, passenger cars, passenger vans, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs). 113,887 children under age 16 in crashes were enrolled as part of an ongoing crash surveillance system in the US which links insurance claims data to telephone survey and crash investigation data. Children in the second row suffered less significant injuries than those in the front in all vehicle types except compact extended cab pickup trucks in which the risk for children in the rear was 13% as compared to 2.8% for front-seated occupants. Further research is needed to identify the child and vehicle characteristics which might explain this increased injury risk.