TAKING OFF
A new little person has entered the world. Into your life. It’s an exciting and magical experience for most – although the new routines can feel almost overwhelming at times.
Therefore, it’s a good idea to plan well in advance for that first journey home.
START
Seating & belting
Safety Science
Volvo solutions
SECURE AND STABLE
Right from the start, your baby needs to have his or her own baby seat – properly anchored, correctly fitted and facing the rear of the car.
Depending on the type you start with, the baby may be anything
between nine and eighteen months old before you need to move
on to the next seat.
When the baby has grown so its head reaches the top end of its
seat or beyond (depending on whether the seat has a hood or not), the time has come to change to a bigger one.
HEAVY HEAD, WEAK NECK
The head of a newborn baby makes up half the total body weight.
This oversized head – in combination with not fully developed neck vertebrae, muscles and ligaments – makes the baby’s neck a weak point.
When forward-facing in a frontal impact, the body is restrained by the safety belt while the head moves forward and puts load on the neck.
Depending on crash severity and size of the child, this load can be injurious. Therefore, a newborn baby should always be placed facing rearward in the car.
INFANT AND CHILD SEATS
Volvo Cars is one of the few car makers who designs baby and child seats, made for and tested in their own cars.
We provide a range of restraints to meet the different needs of babies to 12 year olds.
The Child Safety accessories presented here are appropriate for children of:
Age: from birth to 9-12 months.
Weight: up to 13 kg.
This rearward-facing seat acts as an extra safety cage and helps reduce the force of an impact.
A seat for the tiniest children weighing up to 13 kg. It can be fitted with the car’s belts or ISOFIX mountings.
CLOSE
Keep in mind
All children must be properly restrained. Always.
Keep in mind
Remove bulky clothes so that the safety belt can be pulled tight, as close to the body as possible.
Make sure to remove warm clothes before belting the child in order to prevent overheating and subsequent dehydration.
Do not let the baby sit upright for too long, take frequent breaks and pick up the baby for a while or let it rest lying flat while the car is parked.
A child in a rearward-facing child seat is approximately 90% less likely to be injured in an accident compared to an unrestrained child.
Hard
facts
Hard facts
Did you know?
Did you know?
Safety has always been the guiding principle behind everything we do at Volvo Cars.
Children must never be placed in the passenger seat if the airbag is active.
Small children should travel in rearward-facing child restraints for as long as possible, at least until they are three to four years old.
Volvo started researching child safety in the early 1960s. The first rearward-facing child restraint was launched in 1972.
Volvo Cars continues its child safety development as can be seen in the all-new Volvo V70 innovative integrated 2 stage booster cushion.
Next
VOLVO ACCESSORIES
Mirror
Helps you keep an eye on the child facing rearward in the back of the car.
Sunshield
Easily adjusted to keep the sun away.
Activity bag
With a built-in cupholder and several practical compartments.
Kick guard
With pockets for storing toys and other small items.
Play table
Available for the belt-secured, non-ISOFIX child safety seat (3-18 kg).
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VOLVO ACCESSORIES
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SKIP INTRO
Convertible child seat (9–25 kg)
Infant seat
The infant seat is designed for the smallest children, weighing up to 13 kg.
It is a comfortable and bolstered seat that is also easy to carry around.
You attach it the with the car’s safety belts in positions where there are no active airbags.
An additional ISOFIX base makes it possible to have an ISOFIX installation of the infant seat.
ISOFIX installation makes it easy to get the seat in and out of the car.
It also makes sure that the child seat is fitted in the right rear facing position.
In fact, it can only be mounted in the correct way since it uses the car’s integrated ISOFIX attachments.
An indicator on the ISOFIX base also confirms if the seat is secure.
The instinct to protect our children is deeply imbedded within us.
It's an instinct, born of love.
In a few minutes this car will travel at a speed of 40 mph (64 km/h)
straight into this solid barrier.
In the car will be two children
One child that is 18 months old, and one child that is 3 years old.
My personal motivation to study this subject, began when
my sister was pregnant and I began asking questions like
How effective is the seatbelt during pregnancy.
How should it be worn and what is the effect on the mother and baby in a crash
This 18 month old child will be a part of our crash test.
It is one of our crash test dummies that has been calibrated to make sure all the data is gathered correctly.
To answer some of these questions we built Linda.
Volvo's first computer model of a pregnant crash test dummy.
The expectation is that in the future
Linda will answer many questions like the one's I've raised.
The test was very successful.
Everything indicates that the children in the car are completely unharmed.
A rear facing child seat in a safe car is the safest way to travel.
Volvo has more than 35 000 accidents registered in its database
and except in one extreme case, no child has been killed in a rear facing safety seat.
But what we know right know is that it is imperative to wear the seatbelt
during pregnancy, at all times and to wear it correctly.
To wear the belt correctly, the torso belt needs to run in between the breasts
and to the side of the abdomen and the lap belt must be as low as possible under the belly,
sitting on the left and right pelvic bones.
Rear facing seats are the safest ones. Children should be facing backwards for as long as possible
at least until they are 3-4 years old
When the child gets too big
it is time to start using a front facing booster seat
The idea is that the seat belt should be fastened over the hips or thighs
rather than over the stomach, and the torso belt should be positioned over the shoulder to keep the child as safe as possible
But what's important to remember is that
it's not only us performing research that is going to safe lives
It's relaying the knowledge we gain from the research today
to parents and insuring that they utilize this knowledge to safe their children's lives
This is what will make a difference
With today's rigorous testing and careful designs
It's never been easier to take responsibility
KNOWLEDGE SAVES LIVES
HEAD-ON COLLISION
AT 40 MPH (64 KM/H)
KNOWLEDGE SAFES LIVES
LOTTA:
LOTTA JAKOBSSON, Ph.D.
RESEARCH MANAGER, VOLVO CARS SAFETY CENTRE
HEAD-ON COLLISION AT 40 MPH (64 KM/H)
LAURA KVARNSTRAND
LOTTA JAKOBSSON, PH.D
SAFETY RESEARCH MANAGER VOLVO
BIOMECHANICS ENGINEER VOLVO