Improved Child Safety Seat

描述(申请人提供)：机动车碰撞是美国儿童死亡的主要原因。儿童安全座椅提供保护，并已观察到，如果使用得当，可将死亡和伤害率降低70%以上。研究发现，只有10%到20%的儿童正确地将安全带系到正确安装的座椅上。最常见的错误之一涉及在车辆中安装儿童安全座椅。儿童安全座椅的安装使用车辆安全带或与座椅一起出售的独立儿童下锚和儿童支具(闩锁)表带。闩锁系统的设计是为了使儿童安全座椅的安装变得更容易，因为它在车辆上提供了一个带有座椅的带子和两个较低的锚，儿童座椅安装在上面。必须用力拉紧车辆安全带或灵活的闩锁座椅锚带，以实现正确安装。与闩锁安装相关的最常见错误被观察到是下部锚带松动，在30%的安装中观察到这种情况。松动的锚带增加了碰撞中儿童安全座椅和车辆之间的相对运动，从而降低了座椅控制儿童减速的有效性，并增加了儿童，特别是头部与车辆内部、座椅或安全带的影响。该项目将开发一种廉价的设备，以确保儿童安全座椅锚带正确安装。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among children in the United States. Child safety seats provide protection and have been observed to reduce death and injury rates by more than 70% when properly used. Studies have observed that only 10% to 20% of children are correctly harnessed into correctly installed seats. One of the most common errors involves the installation of the child safety seat in the vehicle. Child safety seats are installed using the vehicle seat belt or an independent Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) strap sold with the seat. The LATCH system is designed to make installation of child safety seats easier by providing a strap with the seat and two lower anchors in the vehicle onto which a child seat is attached. The vehicle seat belt or flexible LATCH seat anchor strap must be aggressively tensioned to achieve proper installation. The most common error associated with LATCH installations has been observed to be a loose lower anchor strap, which was observed in 30% of installations. Loose anchor straps increase the relative movement between the child safety seat and the vehicle in a crash thereby reducing the effectiveness of the seat at controlling the child's deceleration and increasing the impact of the child, in particular of the head, with the vehicle interior, seat, or harness. This project will develop an inexpensive device to ensure that child safety seat anchor straps are properly installed.