Volvo was the first car maker to test child seats back in the 1960s and has now launched a range of new-generation child seats.

VOLVO CARS HAS announced the launch of its new-generation child seats which are part of its commitment to ensure that no-one is killed or injured in a Volvo car by 2020. The Chinese-owned Swedish car maker claims its new seats focus on “design, comfort and convenience”.

“We understand that many people find child safety in cars a complex and sometimes confusing subject. We have focused for many years on communicating clear guidelines around how child seats should be used and the correct way to install them,” said Lotta Jakobsson, Adjunct Professor, PhD and Senior Technical Leader, Injury Prevention at Volvo Cars Safety Centre.

“Our focus is on ensuring that young children travel in the safest manner possible, depending upon their size and age. This means rearward-facing up to the age of at least three or four years, and after that with child seats or booster cushions until the child is up to 140cm in height. The safety benefits are unquestionable, yet many parents unwittingly allow their children to sit forward-facing too early. One of the many reasons quoted for this is comfort – the child complains that there is not enough legroom, or is too warm due to the upholstery,” said Lotta Jakobsson.

Volvo is launching three child seats, an infant seat, a child seat and a booster seat; they have been developed in conjunction with Britax-Römer. Practical Motoring has contacted Volvo Australia to see whether the new child seats will be available in Australia; they go on-sale in “selected markets” in June.

Update: Practical Motoring has spoken with Volvo Australia and unfortunately the new-generation Volvo child seats won’t be available in Australia due to our different design rules expectations… tip: read between the lines.

The new seats are designed to suit the needs of children of different ages and sizes:

• Infant seat – rearward-facing (up to 13 kg or nine months);
• Child seat – rearward-facing for children from nine months up to six years (at least three to four years old, as recommended by Volvo); and
• Booster seat – forward-facing for children that have outgrown the rearward-facing seat (from three to 10 years old).

“We believe that children will be more comfortable in our rearward-facing new seat and that this will encourage parents to keep their children rearward-facing for longer. This will have a direct impact on overall child safety and support our Vision 2020, where no one will be killed or seriously injured in a Volvo car by the year 2020,” added Lotta Jakobsson.

While the evidence supporting children travelling in rearward facing child seats is compelling, many parents transition their children to forward-facing seats or non-age appropriate seats too early. That said, there is an increasing number of seats on the Australian market that do allow for children to travel rear-facing for longer, and the importance of Volvo pushing this rear-facing message can’t be underestimated.

Further reading:

Rear-facing Vs Forward-facing child seats;

Buying or selling a secondhand child seat.