This paper attempts to summarize Japan’s child restraint system (CRS) assessment program, which was initiated in 2001. The CRS assessment program was launched to assess the performance of universal CRSs in response to the rising numbers of killed or injured child car passengers in recent years as well as in response to the introduction of a regulation in April 2000 what mandates the use of CRSs for children under six years old.

The assessment comprised frontal collision and usability tests (evaluation of ease of use). The frontal collision tests were carried out using the body of a production car, which was mounted on a sled. The test speed was 55 km/h, the same as used in Japan’s New Car Assessment Program (JNCAP). The usability test assessed the design and foolproof features of the CRSs.

The assessment covered CRSs for infants (up to 10 kg) and toddlers (9 kg to 18 kg). The CRSs for infants were examined for backward-facing and/or bed. All toddler CRSs tested were forward-facing.

The evaluation items for the frontal collision tests were decided in reference to Japanese, United States and European safety standards.

Since it is important to check whether weaker parts of toddlers are at risk of injury by pressure from restraints such as harnesses, padding, we considered adopting electric pressure sensors to measure abdominal pressure.