My understanding (waiting to to be corrected...) is that with a rear facing car seat the child can be crushed or suffer severe whiplash/impact injuries if the airbag goes off and hits the child seat, forcing it back into the actual car seat. By facing backwards the child is naturally safer in a collision involving frontal impact because the force is distributed along their back, and their head won't 'whip'. With a forward facing seat the airbag works the way it should, as in a front impact the child will go forward, just like you. So I think you should be fine, and my son travelled with me on his forward facing child seat... Though I was never in an accident, so can't say I tested it.
