With all the advances in occupant safety that has been going on with automobiles, I actually rarely hear about any significant developments when it comes to child safety in transportation. You see, seats and seatbelts are built for adult bodies, and coupled with the fact that children are generally more fragile than adults, there can be plenty that can go wrong when we get into an accident.
We’ve seen plenty of improvement to stroller design in the past – strollers like the Babyzen Yoyo are now extremely portable and you can even bring them onto a flight and store it neatly in the overhead baggage storage. This is great for the traveling parent.
But when you get to your destination, you might need to grab a taxi. Actually given that some cities are relying more and more on public transport rather than individual cars, you might have to bring your child around in a taxi even when you are not travelling.
Unfortunately child seats are huge and heavy. Have you ever heard of an ultra portable child seat? There is no such thing. How do you lug it to a taxi and then bring it with you around the whole day? That could soon change with this new gadget, the Volvo Inflatable Child Seat Concept.
Volvo has designed a ightweight and inflatable rearward-facing child seat concept. It is designed to be safe, easy to pack and carry and will enable parents to use it in many situations not practical with the child seats on the market today.
The fact that it’s rear facing is great as that 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 strain on the neck. Children therefore should face the rear of the vehicle until at least 3-4 years of age.
The small pack shown on the right side of the image can be inflated to a proper child seat in less than 40 seconds using 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 along with your child’s other necessities.
“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.
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thumbs up to volvo on this
Volvo Malaysia,
Please bring this to our country and price it reasonably.
hope u wont tax it kaw kaw
And let you tax kaw kaw right? We knew it!
u bring the car price down lah. then everyone can afford this car seat. tok kok.
just make sure it’s affordable. no point creating a great product but charge people an arm and a leg. then you’re sending a message that only rich kids deserve such mobility and protection.
where can I get this seat in MY?
Come, take my money Volvo! My back seat now is full with 2 big rocks! I feel so difficult when I want to carry 4 adults and I can’t find a space to hide my 2 child seats.
Wow that’s awesome and loved to have plenty of it. Hope Volvo produce it. Good job !
great concept and agree with a lot of baby seat in market is impractical, also big size for asian baby. i hope this concept will produce a.s.a.p.
congratulation volvo very concerned about baby safety.
Thoughtful n clever design…thr wil b a china made look alike in no time,always buy original when it comes to safety!
Volve always come up with superb inventions/innovations.
It’s inspiring! Wish I could have few years of experience working with Volvo!
Not sure if the government takes a 30% cut on import duties, even on safety gear for kids.
That’s why I buy my child seats from USA. Its SOOOO MUCH CHEAPER.
My kids’ Graco sells for 800++ here. I bought the exact same seat for 130 USD, and this is at regular price…from Walmart or Target (much cheaper if on sale).
That said, even worst is, even if you have a good seat, cars a generation ago and some presently don’t have ways to properly mount them..even for “Family MPVs”…yes, I’m looking at you Proton Exora. Unforgivable. So difficult to mount in ISOFIX/LATCH? Even your Satria Neo has them.
Oh. I thought now new car full spec all hav ISOFIX mount?
less than rm500 so no tax for your graco? which forwarding company you used? interested in getting one from US also.
true..cars here mostly not child friendly..now most new cars have Isofix but front passenger airbag still cannot be deactivated.
I didn’t ship it here. I bought it while I visited my in laws with my wife and kid. Used it for 2 weeks and brought it back. Airlines don’t charge you freight for child seats and strollers if traveling with kids. Customs won’t bother you also for personal use items.
See?? Nothing is impossible.
“Customs won’t bother you also for personal use items.”
Not all items must be taxed. If you know the rules, use it to your advantage.
Thats usually what I do anyway .
Car rental places usually have a surcharge of 10-15USD/Day for child seats.
So better to just buy one, use for a week or 2 and fly it back. Can sell used at a discount and still make a little extra to cover my kids air fair.
I can easily save over RM1000 by buying a car seat and stroller each trip.
more of my pet peeves.
I tested my Graco with the then new Rondo (2nd batch CKD). They modified (cheapened) the 2nd row to seat rails that the entire seat base slides forwards instead of a 40/60 split fold. When I mounted the Graco rear facing, the seat cannot be slid forward, meaning, no one can get into the back 3rd row. And get this, no LATCH/ISOFIX as well.
The first batch Rondo CBU (er.. SKD) has the proper 40/60 split so no issues there.
Just proves local car manufacturers don’t have much forethought into safety of the young ones.
I remember how dumbfounded the the sales person was to explain why the seats are that way……even to the point to ask me to remove the child seat if I wanted to get in and out of the 3rd row!!!! Imagine if it is raining.