a REAR- FACING seat or a BACKWARD-FACING seat?
(1) Please let me know whether a REAR- FACING seat and a BACKWARD-FACING seat are different or the same?
(2) in/on what vehicle (s) may I use these two terms?

Question

Answer

You can use either, they both mean the same thing. Often used when talking about baby seats for newborns that are placed into cars which need to be rear facing in some countries. It's possible but not common to have large cars / buses that have seats that face the opposite direction. It's most common on large public transport vehicles like trains and ferries to have rear facing seats.

Answer

They are basically the same. Rear facing sounds better than backwards facing, because backwards suggests something wrong for example "he put his shirt on backwards" ie incorrectly.
Rear facing means facing to the rear of an aircraft or vehicle.

Answer

(1) They have the same meaning, but in my opinion "rear-facing" is more commonly used than "backward-facing" when people talk about car seats.
(2) The first thing I think of when I hear "rear-facing" is a baby's rear-facing seat in a car. You can use either term for any car that has seats that are backwards. There can also be backward-facing seats in airplanes, which apparently is more safe than front facing seats in the event of a plane crash.
http://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/11476/why-are-passenger-seats-not-facing-backward-on-an-airplane

Answers · 6

Still haven’t found your answers?

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!