Volvo just created the car of every parent’s dreams! On July 2, the company debuted a new concept which swaps a front passenger’s seat for a rear-facing child seat on a raised platform.
Known as the “Excellence Child Seat,” this new innovation allows parents to turn the car seat counterclockwise and back to easily secure and board their children. The open concept also allows the driver and backseat passenger to keep an eye on the child while driving.
In a press release, Tisha Johnson, Chief Designer Interiors at Volvo Cars Concept and Monitoring Centre, explained that the company created the car with parents in mind.
“We started by asking ourselves if we could make life easier for parents and safer for their children when it comes to the child seat experience,” Johnson said in a press release.
“We focused on three key benefits — making it easier to get the child into and out of the child seat from an ergonomic and comfort perspective, providing the child with a safe rearward facing seating position that enables it to keep eye-contact with either the driver or the rear passenger, and of course including enough storage for those vital child accessories, such as diapers, bottles, wipes, and so on.”
While this is an exciting new concept, the question on everyone’s mind is, is it safe? According to Transport Canada, a rear-facing child seat should always be installed in the back seat of the car. “This way, your child is as far away as possible from the front seat air bags if they inflate during a crash,” its website reads.
Transport Canada also advises that children 12 and under should always be in the back seat.
Addressing this safety issue, Volvo explained that “from a safety perspective there is no difference between the rear seat or front seat, given that the airbag is disconnected. This concept can ensure that the airbag always will be disconnected when the concept is in the car.”
For more info on car seat safety or installation, visit Transport Canada.
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