Restraining children in cars constitutes an essential focal point of the subject area "Passive Safety". The experience with child restraint systems is positive, but even so there are a number of possible improvements, as is pointed out in this paper. In real-life accidents a typical injury pattern emerges in the case of restrained children which is primarily characterised by injuries to the head, neck, abdomen and chest. The frequency and severity of the injuries to these parts of the body are discussed. The results from dynamic trolley tests with four different kinds of child restraint systems confirm the injury pattern observed in real-life accidents. They also show where the starting-points lie for further improvements to child restraint systems. It is deduced from the knowledge gained that the ECE-R 44 is no longer adequate for assessing the safety performance of child restraint systems in keeping with real life.
Abstract