A day in car seat heaven

Tuesday this week was spent in car seat heaven.  I was invited to a safety conference in Gothenburg where the small and elite group of car seat researchers met.  It was a day filled with interesting presentations by some extremely knowledgeable researchers.  A large group from US was there, among them the fantastic research team from CHOP (Children’s Hospital in Pennsylvania) with well known names such as Flaura Winston and Kristy Arbogast.  Lotta Jacobbson, the often quoted researcher from Volvo , was also there and listeners included well known names such as Tommy Pettersson and Robert Bell. It was like being back stage at a U2 concert (if you love car seats:-))

These people are on the cutting edge of safety research for children in cars and do work that help to keep our chidlren safe in cars.  A few topics discussed:

• History of Child Safety in Sweden ‐ Hans Norin, Chalmers University of Technology/SAFER
• Global Trends in Child Occupant Protection from Real World Crash Data – Flaura Winston, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• Pediatric Anatomic Development and Biomechanics – Part 1: Head and Cervical Spine ‐ Matthew Maltese, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• Child anthropometry and optimal belt fit – Matthew Reed, University of Michigan
• Child specific injuries and injury mechanisms: a view from the surgery suite – Michael Nance, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• Challenges and opportunities for Child Occupant Protection: a vehicle manufacturer’s perspective – Lotta Jakobsson, Volvo Cars/ SAFER

Matthew Reed had done interesting research on boosters in US, specifically the safety difference between well known models of dedicated high back boosters and convertible seats. Some models are far better than others.  I focus mainly on rear facing seats but the booster research was something parents could benefit from.

Lotta Jacobsson talked about manufacturers equipping cars with built in boosters directly in cars.  Volvo is as always leading research in this area.  She also talked briefly about Volvo co-branding the very popular Britax Multi Tech which allow kids to easily and comfortably rear face to age 5+.

Michael Nance from CHOP had interesting views from a surgery point of view.  Short summary, we need to protect the head.  We can fix arms and legs, not so with brain, head, and neck.  This is a huge benefit from rear facing.  More on this later.

Overall is was a real privilege to take part of new research from these researchers whow work very hard so our children will travel safer in cars.

Have a nice weekend!