The development of a unified child restraint to car attachment system:​ a contribution to the ISOFix discussions

Lowne, R. W.; Turbell, T.

Affiliations

¹Transport Research Laboratory, United Kingdom

²Swedish Road and Traffic Research Institute, VTI, Sweden

Abstract

The development of child restraints from the 1960s has led today to designs that are attached to the car structure using the adult belt system, sometimes with supplementary straps, or by special attachment methods which are specific to a certain vehicle model or limited range of models. The use of the adult belt is intended to make the fitment universal. However, adult belts and the location of their anchorages are designed for use by adults. This causes problems in the fit and satisfactory performance of some child restraints in some cars. In addition, the complex and variable routing of the belt on the child restraint results in a high level of misuse. The concept of a simple plug-in system of attachment has been considered by the International Standards Organisation Working Group. In the UK, a consortium of car and restraint manufacturers and research organisations has been studying the requirements for such a system taking into account the range of car seat dimensions and child restraint types as a contribution to the ISO work. This paper describes the results of this study and gives the UK recommendations.

Cited By (6)

Year	Entry
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2005	Sherwood CP, Gopalan S, Abdelilah Y, Marshall RJ, Crandall JR. Vehicle interior interactions and kinematics of rear facing child restraints in frontal crashes. In: 49th Annual Proceedings, Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM). September 12-14, 2005; Boston, MA.215-228.
1996	Paton IP, Roy AP, Roberts AK. The frontal impact performance of child restraint systems (CRS) conforming to the ISOFIX concept. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Technical Conference on the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV). May 13-16, 1996; Melbourne, Australia.549-557.
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