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Carsales Staff15 Apr 2014
NEWS

Volvo blows up the kids

Volvo has debuted a prototype child seat that's inflatable

Honey, I shrunk the kids’ seat! That’s a comic version of an introduction to a smart technical solution to bulky child protection seats unveiled by Volvo Cars this week. The inflatable rearward-facing child seat concept uses “groundbreaking technology” says the Chinese-owned Swedish safety icon and “explores the future of child protection”.

The seat is the brainchild of Lawrence Abele, Design Manager at the Volvo Monitoring and Concept Center in Los Angeles. Father of two, Abele’s design features an innovative integral pump system that inflates the seat silently in less than 40sec.

The total weight of the seat is “less than 5kg” says Volvo and is also Bluetooth controlled. Volvo says the seat can stow easily in a pouch in the vehicle (possibly within the main seat itself) and “fits into a weekend bag together with other necessities for your child”.

“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,” Abele stated.

Volvo says the seat is suitable for use in your own car and “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 prototype seat features “a unique material called drop-stitch fabric”.

Says Maria Hansson, Project Manager at Volvo Monitoring and Concept Center in Los Angeles: “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”.

The seat is rearward facing. Volvo states this is the safest way for children under 3-4 years of age to travel.

"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."

Volvo claims it is celebrating its 50th anniversary of “dedication to protecting the smallest and most vulnerable car occupants” in 2014.

“This ground breaking work started with the world’s first rear-facing child seat prototype in a PV544 back in 1964,” the company claimed in a press release today.

Volvo child safety milestones
As claimed by Volvo Cars

1964: First child seat prototype
“Inspired by how astronauts travel rearwards, Bertil Aldman, medical doctor and subsequently Professor in Traffic Safety at Chalmers University of Technology, developed the very first child seat prototype. Volvo was closely involved in the development and testing was carried out in a PV544.”

1967: Reversible front passenger seat with special child backrest
“The first child seat to be sold to customers was created by turning the front passenger seat around. Adding a padded backrest with straps made sure that the rearward-facing child was kept in place. The solution was sold as an accessory for the recently introduced Volvo Amazon.”

1972: Volvo’s first rearward-facing child seat
“Rearward-facing child seats are designed to support the neck and help spread the force of a frontal impact over a larger area. Frontal impacts are the most frequent and usually the most severe impact situation.”

1976: The booster cushion
“Children from three to four years and up travel facing forwards using the standard safety belt with a belt-positioning booster cushion. Volvo Cars’ policy is that children should use a booster cushion until they are 140 centimetres tall and ten years old. When using a booster cushion, the child runs an approximately 75 per cent lower risk of being injured compared to being unrestrained.”

1990: World’s first integrated booster cushion
“The first integrated booster cushion was an ingenious fold-down-and-out version in the rear centre position in the Volvo 960. Double integrated pop-up booster cushions in the outer rear seats were introduced in the Volvo S40 in 1995.”

1999: World’s first rearward-facing seat for ISOFIX
“The world-first solution for the standardised, car-integrated ISOFIX fittings was actually two rearward-facing seats in one. Both seats – one for infants and one for toddlers up to four years of age – could be fitted in the same ISOFIX frame.

2007: World’s first two-stage integrated booster cushion
“Two-stage integrated booster cushions were introduced in the Volvo V70 estate. The two-stage version, with two sitting heights, enables a better belt fit regardless of the child’s size. Child adapted safety belt load limiters were also fitted.”

2014: Inflatable Child Seat Concept
“The innovation, which is still in the development stage, is easy to install and can be tucked away in a small bag when not in use. This means that the child seat can be easily transferred between cars and the bag even fits in carry-on luggage when flying or travelling.”

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Written byCarsales Staff
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