Unfortunately
in a populated country like India, motorists do not believe in a baby seat at
all. They prefer the mother’s lap or the front seat in a car for the baby. This
is primarily one of the reasons why so many children die in road accidents
every year in India.
In
the west and other developed nations of the world, children’s car seats have
been historically bulky, hard to move and tedious to mount. This is why Volvo
Cars has designed a lightweight and inflatable rearward-faced child seat
concept using groundbreaking technology. The seat is safe, easy to pack and
carry and will enable parents to use it in many situations not practical with
the seats on the market today, according to a company statement
Lawrence
Abele, Design Manager at the Volvo Monitoring and Concept Center in Los Angeles
and the designer behind the new seat, had his two children in mind while
designing the concept seat: “For me child safety is always the number one
priority and when we lived abroad with two toddlers we had to haul bulky child
seats through airports and then into taxis. For many, travelling with young
children is a challenge; any assistance to simplify the parents’ life with
young children is a great thing.”
The
concept presents new opportunities, for example grandparents and friends who
take care of your kids and need an ultra mobile child seat. It is also very
convenient when travelling by taxi, rental car or bus, situations where you
historically had to rely on the safety measures available.
The
seat has an innovative pump system that is silent and efficient in its
construction. The seat inflates in less than 40 seconds and deflates with an
integrated pump. The total weight of the seat less than 5 kg, half the weight
of a contemporary seat, and it is constantly online via Bluetooth enabling a
wide range of features, including remote controlled inflation. It fits into a
weekend bag together with other necessities for your child.
“We
used a unique material called drop-stitch fabric when creating the prototype of
the seat. This fabric is very strong when inflated as it can be brought to a
very high internal pressure. It is a quite common technology in the boating
industry and was originally developed by the military in an effort to develop
inflatable airplanes,” says Maria Hansson, Project Manager at Volvo Monitoring
and Concept Center in Los Angeles.
Rear-faced safest
The
Inflatable Child Seat Concept faces the rear of the car, as it is the safest
way for children to travel. A child's neck is under development and not as
strong as an adult's neck. In a frontal impact collision, the head of a
forward-facing car occupant is thrown forward inducing great stain on the neck.
Children therefore need special restraints and to face the rear of the vehicle
until at least 3-4 years of age.
"Actually,
it would be better for all of us to travel facing the rear but given how cars
are designed nowadays it's not feasible. Young children, however, can and
should travel facing the rear of the car as long as possible," says
Lawrence. “The goal was to design a seat as safe, or safer, than anything on
the market right now but second to that I want everyone, including kids to be
exposed to great design every day."
If
only parents in India could pay heed to what Volvo has to say on child safety
seats!
Source: Volvo Cars with inputs from Motown
India
Photograph courtesy Volvo Cars