Except for the frontal airbags, children benefit from the vehicle safety systems, including vehicle structure, seat belts and side airbags. However, due to the anatomical development, children have specific concerns calling out for add-on protection systems for their optimal protection. Children of approximately 4 years and above can safely use the vehicle's seat belt, given that they are adjusted into good seat belt position using a belt positioning booster. By using the vehicle's seat belt the child will benefit from the structural safety design in a frontal impact as well as any advanced seat belt fiinctionality (e.g. belt pretensioners and load limiters). By raising the child it will also benefit from structural safety design as well as available side airbags in case of a side impact. For the total safety of the child, these basic principles are needed to be emphasized in order to make a good balance. A good balance is to provide add-on child restraint systems when necessary but not more than required related to the in-vehicle safety design as this can have an adverse effect like inducing unnecessary slack in the total restraint sequence of the child as well as giving an unfavourable initial sitting position increasing risk of head impacts. Also, too large child seats can interact unfavourably with the deployment of the Inflatable Curtain. The study concludes that for children taller than 130 cm, a booster cushion (without backrest) together with the vehicle 3pt belt should be used as their primary restraint. By raising the children, the vehicle's built-in protection is to be used for the optimal real world protection of children of these sizes. For children shorter than this, the benefit of a backrest for the booster is depending on the vehicle used and the behaviour of the child during the specific trip. Hence, for the optimal protection of children in cars, it is essential that different types of boosters are available and accepted.
The balance of vehicle and child seat protection for the older children in child restraints
International Conference on Protection of Children in Cars, 10 ; Paper 20/1-Paper 20/8
2012
8 Seiten, 12 Bilder, 31 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
NTIS | 1994
Injuries to children in child restraints
Kraftfahrwesen | 2003
|Injuries to children in child restraints
Online Contents | 2003
|Transportation Research Record | 2012
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