Introduction
Cars and children are both our pride and joy. This Children’s Day, we bring to you what makes our cars children-friendly. These must-have safety essentials keep your baby safe in and around the car. Even the Euro NCAP reserves a special consideration to the child safety rating in their test factors. These are few features that must be on your car whether or not you have children in your family.
Child Safety features in Cars
Door locks:
When ferrying around small children, it is advisable to have an automatic door lock in the car. This will prevent the risk of accidentally opening the doors by the oblivious kids and falling off the moving vehicle. The door locks also prevent unwanted forced entry into the vehicle when stopped in traffic. Apart from this, there are also child safety door locks which are common in cars these days. When these child safety locks are engaged, the rear doors cannot be opened from the inside by the kids.
Window switches:
Almost all vehicles nowadays come equipped with power windows. They also have an anti-pinch and an auto-reversing system (ARS). The power windows should have a main control switch at the driver’s side which can lock the windows in case the kid fiddles (lean on or play) with the switches. The ARS, on the other hand, will stop and retract the windows if any obstruction is felt in its operation. In this case, the obstruction could be the children’s hand or head which is hanging out the window.
Airbags:
With the headway of technology, the airbags now come with sensors to detect the severity of the crash, size of the passenger, seat belt use and/or seat position. Using that data, the system can either suppress the passenger airbag in the presence of a child or deploy in a manner to mitigate harm to the child occupant. Apart from them, there are now Side Impact Airbags that are also essential for child safety and are highly recommended by NCAP.
Cameras:
Manufacturers have now started providing cars with 360-degree surround cameras. This helps the driver to be aware of any kid around the car when maneuvering the vehicle.
Gear lever Interlocks
The gear lever interlocks prevent from accidentally shifting gears by the children when playing inside the cabin. If the vehicle is shifted into neutral, either intentionally or by bumping the shift lever, and the vehicle is on any kind of slope, it may roll into a person or object.
ISOFIX or LATCH
Last but not the least, the ISOFIX is an important feature to have in a car nowadays. ISOFIX is the international standard for attachment points for child safety seats in passenger cars. The system is also called as the LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) in the United States. It defines standard attachment points to be manufactured into cars, enabling compliant child safety seats to be quickly and safely secured. ISOFIX is an alternative to securing the seat with seat belts. Many manufacturers in India have started providing the ISOFIX as standard these days.
Other Dos and Don’ts
Even with new features that can keep children safe, there are still dangers to children in and around vehicles. Talk to your kids about the dangers of playing around vehicles and monitor children closely when vehicles are present. Give special attention to the kids around the roads with moving cars. Instruct children not to play near vehicles.
Don’t leave children unattended inside the vehicle no matter how short the stop is, or what the weather is, even if the windows are lowered.
Never leave a child unattended in a vehicle that has the ignition on or the keys in the ignition. Unattended children can accidentally cause the vehicle to roll or even drive away, especially if the engine is running.
Educate the children about the use of seatbelts, seats and other essentials inside the cabin. Children can get bored during car trips and might play with whatever they can grab inside the cabin. So, keep your cabin child proof and avoid leaving anything dangerous and harmful in and around the cars and children.
