A new concept for child safety in the ESF 2019 Experimental Safety Vehicle which was recently presented by Mercedes-Benz shows how protection for children can be further improved. With this child seat with PRE-SAFE® functions, the seat belts are preventively tensioned before a crash and side impact protection elements are extended. Monitoring of seat installation and the child’s vital signs are other functions integrated into the seat. At this year’s Child Safety Day on 10 June (https://www.kindersicherheit.de/kindersicherheitstag.html), the safety experts from Mercedes-Benz will be presenting a development offering greater protection for the smallest vehicle occupants in the future mobility sector.
Active and passive safety have been core values of the Mercedes-Benz brand for many decades now. The company’s in-house accident research department was established 50 years ago, and in 2002 PRE-SAFE® heralded a new era in the field of preventive occupant protection. PRE-SAFE® is able to prepare vehicles and their occupants for an impending accident, thus ensuring that the protective potential of seat belts and airbags is exploited to the full, for example.
To protect the youngest passengers, Mercedes-Benz has presented a special seat with PRE-SAFE® function in ESF 2019. This represents a very special contribution to this year’s “Child Safety Day”, which is organised by the Federal Association “Mehr Sicherheit für Kinder e.V.” and has been held annually on 10 June since 2000. The event is intended first and foremost to instil an awareness of accident hazards in parents and children. Child Safety Day focuses on a different safety hazard for children each year. In 2019 the spotlight is on “Making the home safe together”, with the aim of drawing attention to hazards for children in the home. In the broadest sense of the word, “home” now also extends to the car in which the family heads off into the weekend or on holiday. The priority here is on safe travel.
Added safety through monitoring of the child seat installation process
The onus is first and foremost on parents to ensure safe travel for children – be they in the front passenger seat or in the rear seats. A study published by insurance company accident researchers (UDV) in October 2018 found that almost one in two child seats are not correctly installed in the car. 48 percent of the 1042 children examined were not correctly secured in their child seats. The main causes were seat installation errors and incorrect belt fastening.
The networked child seat with PRE-SAFE® Child (from birth to age four/ 40 – 105 cm, to 18 kg: rearward-facing up to 15 months), which has been unveiled in the ESF 2019 Experimental Safety Vehicle, reduces the risk of such incorrect installation. The child seat is connected with the vehicle via a wireless link and equipped with its own installation monitoring system: eight symbols directly on the seat guide the user through the individual installation steps in self-explanatory manner and indicate when the seat has been fitted correctly. The link with the vehicle means that installation of the seat can also be checked and monitored on the media display from the driver’s seat and the front passenger seat.
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SOURCE: Daimler
