Volvo Cars adds comfort and convenience to safety with new generation child seats
Volvo Cars adds comfort and convenience to safety with new generation child seats
Volvo Cars, the first car maker to actively test child seats in crash tests as far back as the early 1960s, is launching a range of three new child seats with a focus on design, comfort and convenience.
As a pioneer in child safety, Volvo Cars’ heritage of development, testing and clear installation and usage guidelines for parents is unequalled.
“We understand that many people find child safety in cars a complex and sometimes confusing subject. We have focused for many years on communicating clear guidelines around how child seats should be used and the correct way to install them,” said Lotta Jakobsson, Adjunct Professor, PhD and Senior Technical Leader, Injury Prevention at Volvo Cars Safety Centre.
Teaching adults how to install and operate a child seat is one thing, getting the child to stay in the seat is another entirely – especially when the child gets older.
“Our focus is on ensuring that young children travel in the safest manner possible, depending upon their size and age. This means rearward-facing up to the age of at least 3 or 4 years and after that with child seats or booster cushions up to 140 cm in height. The safety benefits are unquestionable, yet many parents unwittingly allow their children to sit forward-facing too early. One of the many reasons quoted for this is comfort – the child complains that there is not enough legroom, or is too warm due to the upholstery,” said Lotta Jakobsson.
Volvo Cars’ new generation of child seats is made with a more breathable and comfortable upholstery comprised of 80% wool textile which makes the seats smoother to the touch, highly durable, and better-performing in both hot and cold climates. The seats also have a slimmer design aimed to increase legroom and overall comfort.
“We believe that children will be more comfortable in our rearward-facing new seat and that this will encourage parents to keep their children rearward-facing for longer. This will have a direct impact on overall child safety and support our Vision 2020, where no one will be killed or seriously injured in a Volvo car by the year 2020,” added Lotta Jakobsson.
The new seats are designed to suit the needs of children of different ages and sizes:
- Infant seat - rearward-facing (up to 13 kg or 1 year)
- Child seat - rearward-facing for children from 9 months up to 6 years (least 3-4 years as recommended by Volvo)
- Booster seat - forward-facing for children that have outgrown the rearward-facing seat (from 3-10 years old)
Volvo Cars continues to focus on the importance of children travelling in rearward-facing seats as long as possible.
The new seats, developed with one of the world’s leading child seat makers, Britax-Römer, and tested at Volvo Cars Safety Centre in Gothenburg, Sweden, will be available from the beginning of June in selected markets.
Note to Editors:
Volvo Cars has just published an updated Child Safety Section on its global Web site.
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Volvo Car Group in 2015
For the 2015 financial year, Volvo Car Group recorded an operating profit of 6,620 MSEK (2,128 MSEK in 2014). Revenue over the period amounted to 164,043 MSEK (137,590 MSEK). For the full year 2015, global sales reached a record 503,127 cars, an increase of 8 per cent versus 2014. The record sales and operating profit cleared the way for Volvo Car Group to continue investing in its global transformation plan.
About Volvo Car Group
Volvo has been in operation since 1927. Today, Volvo Cars is one of the most well-known and respected car brands in the world with sales of 503,127 in 2015 in about 100 countries. Volvo Cars has been under the ownership of the Zhejiang Geely Holding (Geely Holding) of China since 2010. It formed part of the Swedish Volvo Group until 1999, when the company was bought by Ford Motor Company of the US. In 2010, Volvo Cars was acquired by Geely Holding.
As of December 2015, Volvo Cars had almost 29,000 employees worldwide. Volvo Cars head office, product development, marketing and administration functions are mainly located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars head office for China is located in Shanghai. The company’s main car production plants are located in Gothenburg (Sweden), Ghent (Belgium), Chengdu and Daqing (China), while engines are manufactured in Skövde (Sweden) and Zhangjiakou (China) and body components in Olofström (Sweden).