The government has proposed new regulations for child car seats that would protect from side impact crashes and potentially prevent five deaths a year.

Estimating that the change would also save 64 children from injury each year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking to upgrade regulations for children weighing up to 40 pounds with a new test, The Associated Press reported in an exclusive.

The proposal has been more than a decade in the making, according to USA TODAY.

"In 2003, when this rule-making began, we knew that kids were being hurt in side-impacts, but we didn't know what the mechanisms of injury were," child safety advocate Joseph Colella said Wednesday. "Developing appropriate test devices and configurations could not begin until that was better assessed."

The proposed tests would simulate a "T-bone" crash, where a car is hit from the side. Many deaths and injuries among children occur when a vehicle is stopped at an intersection, then begins to drive through only to be hit by a faster vehicle going through the cross-street, officials told the AP.

"As a father of two, I know the peace of mind this proposed test will give parents," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement as quoted by the AP. The test "will give parents and car seat makers important new data on how car seats perform in side crashes," he said.

The side-impact test, which is the first of its kind, will involve a 12-month-old child dummy as well as a 3-year-old child dummy, according to the AP.

NHTSA officials hope to implement new regulations as quickly as possible. The public will have about three months to weigh in on the proposed changes, which will be announced this week.

Enforcing the new regulations could take months or years. The proposal includes a three-year window for car seat manufacturers to make the necessary changes.

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