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Safer Car Seats for Children
Through the years, cars have undergone a lot of improvements performance wise. But performance is not the only aspect of cars that has received much attention from car manufacturers. The safety aspect has also surely been looked into.
Volvo is the forerunner in producing safe cars and they have raised the bar for safety time and time again. While car safety has much improved from those times that cars have no rear safety belts as standards and employs no airbags, there is still room for improvement that car manufacturers need to work on. At present, car safety does not only depend on how well the brakes work even if it is EBC Greenstuff brake pads being employed. An example of that is the recent findings of consumer watchdog Which? which cites problems on the design of safety belt buckles on some of the cars that are being produced today.
Improvements in the safety of car occupants, specifically children, is what First Seat, LLC is concerned about. This producer of child car seat safety systems has been producing safe car seats since 2003 and is based in Monterey, CA. Their dedication to develop safe child car seats is evident on their recently announced design of a passive child car seat safety system which, when tested, shows that it can protect children in cases of crashes much better than any available car seat system for children in the market. The design of the safety system for toddlers and the good result in its testing promises that this will raise the standard for child car seats.
The design of the car seat is aimed at reducing the risk of injury or death of a child in cases of crashes. Their research shows that side impact is potentially the most dangerous kind of collision since side-to-side rotation of the head leads to internal stretching forces on the brain. These will likely result to the stretching of the output wires of the nerves which will then make them stop them from functioning. Research shows that the damage caused by rapid rotational movements, which is what happens to a car’s occupants in side impact, is more damaging to the brain than those movements suffered from frontal impacts.
To lessen such side to side movements of the head of a child during side crashes, First Seat designed a child car seat that has viscoelastic foam that protects the head of the child. The foam used in the construction of the head protection is the same as the ones used in Formula One racecars. The seat itself is made out of a rigid material that protects the body of the child. The Formula One racing inspired technology employed by the company in producing this seat will introduce a new standard in the industry which presently has no standard on side impact safety of child car seats.
Another safety innovation from the company is their technology for decreasing the stress on the child in cases of front collisions. While contemporary child car seats relies heavily on the belt stretch to decelerate the child as it moves forward, the new car seats from First Seat uses a different patented technology. Their technology allows the car seat to glide forward while gradually decelerating while the child is held firmly onto the seat. This reduces the amount of stress exerted by the seat belt on the body of the child, reducing the risk of injuries.
The product is currently on the final stages of testing and the results of previous tests shows that the child car seat protects the child better on side impacts.
About the Author: Anthony Fontanelle is a 35-year-old automotive
buff who grew up in the Windy City. He does
freelance work for an automotive magazine when
he is not busy customizing cars in his shop.
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