Volvo says that its Excellence Child Safety Seat concept may soon be put into production. The “reimagined” child seat capsule was revealed last year together with the Lounge Console concept for the new range-topping Volvo XC90 Excellence four-seat variant – which has just gone on sale in the US for a cool USD$104,900 (RM421k).
Speaking to CarAdvice at the New York Auto Show, Volvo Cars Safety Centre acting senior director, Jan Ivarsson, said that the several of the XC90 Excellence’s features are being considered for production, following a string of positive public feedback.
“We have to test new things, and we have been offering child seat type offers for a long time, but we thought we should take it up to a higher level, a level of excellence as well. And it has been a large success,” he said.
Taking the place of a front passenger seat, the Volvo Excellence Child Safety Seat maintains a rear-facing position, but is placed well within adult supervision. The seat can slide forwards and swivel around to face the front passenger door when placing or removing a child from the seat. Once strapped in, the seat can be swivelled and slid back to its rear-facing position.
“If you’re driving, you have a complete view of what is happening. It’s easy to fix things, as well, instead of having a child in the rear and without having the possibility to really overlook what is happening,” he added. The Volvo chief also believes that children, up to the age of three or four even, should continue to sit in a rear-facing position for maximum safety — something the child seat concept is able to accommodate.
Ivarsson suggested that for production models, the child seat capsule will be fitted as standard, while a front-facing passenger seat is provided as well. Once a child outgrows the seat in the recommended three to four years, drivers may revert the cabin to its conventional state by refitting the regular passenger seat.
“They had a demo in LA, not long ago, and there was great interest in it. We are evaluating the interest we’ve had from the exposure, and we’re thinking of putting it in to production, but I don’t have any firm plan right now,” Ivarsson said. Customers in the US are said to be the most eager to have the innovative child seat.
GALLERY: Volvo XC90 Excellence
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Hey newsflash – not bringing your children out would be the safest !
Not possible for young couples, especially.
Was it designed to have the flexibility of choosing between the childseat set and a proper adult seat, for owner to decide on should there be a need, without compromising the safety aspect?
They should have come up with a design that allows the front seat to be folded flat.
Or perhaps a seat that you can swivel 180 to face the back (which also disables the front passenger airbag at the same time).
To be honest I expected Volvo to do better.
in B4 MY pipu got money buy expensive imported car but no money buy proper child seat
grrrr the mom is hawt