With the arrival of the child, the owners of the car are facing the problem of ensuring their safety during trips. According to traffic rules, all occupants in the car must be wearing seat belts. However, these straps are provided for an adult person, but they are not able to protect the child in the event of an accident. The problem was solved with the introduction of special children's car seats. These armchairs are designed to keep the baby safe in the event of a sudden manoeuvre, extreme braking or collision.
History of children's car seats
The first car seat was invented in America in 1935. Of course, in an accident, that chair wouldn't have saved the baby from trauma. But at the time and speed were smaller, so the inventors were first concerned about how to make sure that the baby did not crawl all over the cabin and distract the driver from the road. For this, the head of the most popular children's toy, a wooden horse, was placed in front of the chair.
In 1936, a comfortable car seat was considered to be a comfortable car seat, which the Americans themselves called the Children's Catapult. That nickname was given because it was completely unfastened to the seat, and in the event of an accident, the child could fly forward, meeting the windshield in his way, with all the consequences.
In 1939, a new child restraint is shown in the light of the modern child restraint. A chair was constructed from handmade materials by a regular resident of Connecticut, Lester Bresson, for his little son. This chair already had a belt holding a "little passenger" in place. It was mounted on a bayonet on the floor of the vehicle between the front seats.
In 1967, Volvo presented the world's first car seat to the world's public.
In 1982, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe entered into force, the standard for testing ECE R 44/01 for children's seats. Many of the rules of this standard still regulate the safety of children in motor vehicles.
In 1990, the ISO International Institute was introduced to the standard of ECE R 44/03, which was formally introduced on 7 August 1995.
Types of child restraint attachments
At present there are three main fastenings in the car of children's seats: safety-belts, using the system Isofix and using the Latch system. In addition, for the removal of the "stickka" at the moment of heavy braking and the more permanent fixation of the chair, either a telescopic emphasis on the anchorage of the anchor type may be used.
To date, many child restraints are designed to secure the safety-belt, which has become a universal method of installation. Anchorage of the car seat belt can be divided into two types: The fixation of the child's seat belt (its hull) with the seat of the car, with the child's seat being fixed by three or five-point-seat belts (applies to children up to 4 years of age and up to 18 kg respectively); fixing of the child with a child chair (used for the children's seat, which is less than 12 years old and the mass is less than 36 kg).
- The seat of the child's seat belt (its body) is attached to the seat of the car, with the child being secured by three or five-point-seat belts (used for children up to 4 years of age and up to 18 kg respectively);
- The use of a child's seat with a child chair (applies to children who have less than 12 years of age and less than 36 kg).
The anchorage is the special brackets located beneath the seat back. With these anchorages, the children's chair is safely attached to the body of the car, and the "small passenger" in it shall fasten with an internal 5-point belt. In order to make the stability more stable, Isofix often uses a third point of anchorage, called "anchor" belt, in recent times. The belt shall be placed at the top of the children's seat back and shall be attached to the bracket in the ceiling or floor of the vehicle, depending on the model and the type of body.
For the most part, the use of the third anchorage reduces the possibility of the "nod" of the chair on frontal impact, and also reduces the load on the main anchorage Isosox. The same function can also be added to the floor of the car. A large number of models of the Isofix system can be fixed with a three-point belt, which makes it possible to use them in machines that are not equipped with the system. Isofix's anchorage is increasingly common to various cars, but when buying a car, it is still worth to specify their presence. As a rule, Isofix is equipped with two rear places on the edges, but there are models in which the Isomix system is equipped with absolutely all passenger seats.
The anchorage of the Isosix system is more European and, of course, it has analogues. The most popular is the American Latch. Since the beginning of the autumn of 2002, this anchorage is a mandatory requirement for both child seat makers and car manufacturers in the United States. The Latch system is based on one upper and two lower anchorage points. This system is designed to facilitate the installation of a car seat. In cars with a Latch system, you can easily install car seats with Isofix.
