Survey: Rear seat belts could be dangerous

Four accidents involving rear seat belts of cars have occurred over the past 10 years, according to a survey by the National Consumer Affairs Center.

In all cases, the seat belts were equipped with a special apparatus designed to hold a child seat in place, and in one case a boy was nearly strangled with a seat belt, it said.

Passengers riding in the backseat will be required to buckle up under the revised Road Traffic Law to be enforced in June.

The NCAC is working to make consumers aware of the dangers of the seat belt.

According to the center, a fourth-grade primary school student of Aichi Prefecture nearly strangled when he wound a rear seat belt around his neck in December 2006.