Child car safety seat manufacturer Jané has announced the arrival of almost human crash test dummies at their crash test centre in Spain, marking a significant breakthrough in child car seat safety.
The company strongly believes that the same tough rules that car designers apply to ensure the safety of a vehicles occupants must also be applied to the design of child safety seats. Jané (pronounced Han-ay) is one of the first companies in the industry to start using these high-tech dummies. Known as the ‘Q Series’, the dummies closely resemble children and are much more life-like than conventional dummies. They have clavicles, ribs, pelvis and vertebrae and each member of the family is also fitted with 32 sensors spread out over the body.
The new dummy family, one of the most advanced in the industry, comprises a new-born baby, an 18 month old, a 3 year old, a 6 year old and a 10 year old. They are the same size and weight as the children they represent (bio-fidelity) and the movements and reactions of the dummies are as similar as possible to those of a real child (anthropomorphism). Safety experts at Jané will now be able to measure through crash tests damage and injury caused in the event of whiplash, seat belt tension, side impact and vertical displacement much more accurately. The information gained from these tests will be used to help develop car seats that offer unprecedented safety levels for babies and children.
`This research innovation comes as Jané celebrates the 10th anniversary of its world-leading and privately owned crash test centre in Barcelona, one of the most advanced facilities of its kind in Europe. Child safety seats face the toughest of tests at speeds of 40mph in 1.7 seconds with acceleration similar to that of a F1 car.
