“What are the biggest differences between Sweden and the UK when it comes to child safety in cars? Today, we [Axkid] are launching the report “Child safety in cars 2025”, where we have researched parents’ knowledge and behaviour to child safety and car seats. The study has been conducted in both Sweden and UK with a separate report for each market.”
The report shows that there is still a huge safety gap between British and Swedish children. This report shows that in Sweden where rear facing until at least four is the cultural norm, 83% of 2-3 year-olds travel in rear facing car seats. In the UK that figure is just 22%...
I would just like to make it clear that there is no difference between Sweden and the UK when it comes to the law on car seats. The difference is cultural. All children in Europe, which includes both Sweden and the UK, are legally allowed to face forward from 76cm and 15 months, and car seats that rear face up to 105cm (4 years) and 125cm (7 years) are available in both countries. The difference is that in Sweden most people use extended rear facing car seats because that’s what everyone over there has done for years, whereas in the UK and other countries forward facing car seats are too widely available and many people are not aware of extended rear facing car seats and their safety benefits. Not yet anyway…
