Anyone see this video: University of Alabama's "Child Saftey Seat Emergency Harness Release System"

MomToEliEm

Moderator
I was looking through youtube videos and saw a new video showing a system the University of Alabama's Office for Technology Transfer is working on for a one step release on carseats to get a child out quickly after a car crash. To me, this seems like it is already implemented in other countries. Get rid of the chest clip and then you easily have a one step release. The methods shown in the video look like it may be more complicated then systems used where there are no chest clips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9r9YTvrVFw
Car seats and booster seats help parents protect their childern. Innumerable lives have been saved through the use of these devices. There is simply no better way to protect your child during a collision. But what about those critical moments immediately following an accident? In those moments, the car seat itself can pose a danger.

The University of Alabama's Office for Technology Transfer has developed the Emergency Harness Release System (EHRS) to ensure the speedy removal of a child from a car seat. UA is looking to license the Emergency Harness Release System. The EHRS is a patent pending technology.
 
ADS

capeKO71

New member
yes... they do.

Here's my thing... how many crashes are we talking about that have water/fire involved? Where a first responder isn't the one taking the child out? (I think that's what they are talking about).

Personally, I think the risk of someone in the car accidentally "releasing" those harness straps (thinking kid here..) before an accident where they would really be needed occurred.
 

BW1426

Well-known member
AHHHH. Why is that baby doll FFing with loose straps that are below his shoulders :thumbsdown:
 

P1ally

New member
I think it would be aimed at the average bystander trying to help.. Both of those ideas seem really rough... I think the pin idea is horrible lol
 

disbugsmomma

New member
Good grief, I could probably get my kid out of a 5pt faster than either of those contraptions. I love how the people couldn't figure out how to get the doll out of the seat. :confused: I would love to just do away with chest clips all together, but that won't happen in the US. :rolleyes:
 
Good grief, I could probably get my kid out of a 5pt faster than either of those contraptions. I love how the people couldn't figure out how to get the doll out of the seat. :confused: :rolleyes:

I think that's the idea/purpose of this system, to aid idiots that can't figure out how to pinch a chest clip.

While I think they're on track to a good idea I think their current ideas are not so great. How hard/easy will it be to pull up the handle to release? Easy enough for a child to do accidentally or hard enough that someone w/ hand/arm weakness couldn't do it? (KWIM?) The buckle clip mechanism looks like it would effect the fit of the harness (maybe, I dunno). All in all not a terribly great design as of yet.
 

P1ally

New member
Lol maybe the chest clip should just say- Press to release, meathead.. :D

I will say it was pretty amusing watching the people trying to get the baby out... Half strangling it in the process... So ridiculous..
 

monstah

New member
Patent pending.

I call it E.R.P.C.E. --- Emergency Release for People who Confuse Easily.


1.jpg
 

Mama!

New member
:ROTFLMAO: And it IS alabama, you guys. I've seen more bassackwards kid restraint or lack thereof there :rolleyes:
 

shellebelle

Senior Community Member
Anyone catch how with the released shoulder straps the doll's hips catch on the hip straps? Don't tell me a child with any length in their legs is going to come out easily...

Isn't there some amazing Maxi-Cosi seat where you press the release and not only does the harness release, it springs to the side? Way better idea there.
 

Pixels

New member
:ROTFLMAO: And it IS alabama, you guys. I've seen more bassackwards kid restraint or lack thereof there :rolleyes:
SIL is there, and they do pretty good. Not 100% perfect, but better than average.

The experiments they showed of people trying to get the doll out were not set up fairly. For the usual mechanism, the people obviously had no preparation. They walked in, looked at the seat, and touched it for the first time, all at once, with no instruction. The section where they were demonstrating their emergency release system, it was obvious that the people knew exactly what they were doing and what to expect. They went straight for the release, no fumbling. If I didn't know what to expect, after pulling the top handle, I would have started fumbling around with the straps because there was no visible effect. I wouldn't have grabbed the child and tried to lift them out of the seat while still (apparently) completely restrained.

I also have problems with the design. On the top handle device, I strongly doubt that those little pins can take crash forces. If that's all that's holding the harness in (all that needs to be removed in order to release the harness), that means that part is taking all of the crash forces. On the T-shield like device, I didn't see any way to adjust it for height, so that the chest clip can be properly positioned as the child grows. Also, it looks fairly rigid, which would likely cause injury in a FFing crash.
 

sparkyd

Active member
Hey, that's my True Fit chest clip! ;)

It does seem shocking that people would have such a hard time figuring out how to undo the chest clip, but when I think about how someone once put my DS into his harness after bringing him out to the car for me while I was chatting with someone else, it becomes a little less shocking. The whole harness thing has always seemed obvious to me, but this person put him in with the shoulder straps in behind or some crazy thing.

If someone was panicking the way some of the test people in that video obviously were, I'm not sure they would see the red handle on top of the seat. Besides which, if the need to get the child out of the car isn't quite so urgent, my understanding was that they should ALWAYS be taken out in the seat as a precautionary measure so that any injuries aren't made worse while taking them out. Is that the case? Making it easier to get them out might be counter-productive in those cases.
 

WhatAboutPuppy

New member
Both designs looks like you'd be buying a new seat each time you needed to adjust the harness height. the pull from the top showed one harness height molded in and the chest clip release thing showed that unless the kid was exactly that size the chest clip would be either to high (the child's poor neck!!) or to low.
It's fitting they used the Comfort Sport (at least that's what it looked like)... cuz it would be a short lived seat!
 

Maedze

New member
Oh, I do not like that AT ALL. It looks incredibly dangerous. Stupid product will end up killing more kids and never 'saving' any :thumbsdown:
 

mommaon112903

New member
I can testify to this! Just last night at Soccer I saw ONE other booster seat, not even ONE 5-point harness and these children are ages 5-8yrs! Some have JUST turned five and in nothing-that is what is scary! Most went up front after fighting with older brother or sister who gets to sit up front :mad: There was one other boy who was about seven who had a Parkway, great-right? Not if the seat belt is not being used, mom drove away with her son's head sticking out the window :mad: :mad: :mad:

I have seen three MAs and I think the only reason for those was because they had the collegiate covers on them. Only one of them was RFing, and yippe it was an ERF, that was the same car I saw with a Tiffany Parkway too :thumbsup:

Children here get turned at one and 20, if not sooner :( My hubby's co-worker turned his daughter on her first b-day because she was a year old and 25lbs...she has an ERF seat! Kiddos are usually out of everything by the age of six and we all know that seatbelts 99% of the time do not fit a six year old correctly.

:ROTFLMAO: And it IS alabama, you guys. I've seen more bassackwards kid restraint or lack thereof there :rolleyes:

That video scared the living you-know-what out of me! What are people thinking?! I agree with the poster who stated that the U.S just needs to get rid of chest clips. They are a PITB most of the time IMHO.
 

Splash

New member
Wow, how unbelievably stupid and ill thought out. Anyone who was halfway serious about CPS would never had "invented" such an absurd product, because they would know the chest clip is pointless. If it's that big a concern, remove the chest clip. I've yet to do it on my seats (considered it a few times), but if I was seriously concerned about something like this, I'd do it. Actually, I drive over bridges, sometimes several, every day... so yeah, going into water in the car is something I've thought of too many times. Still hasn't made me futz with the harness.

I can't believe the commenters actually want one!
 

mommy-medic

New member
WHAT THE????????

In a real life situation, you take the ENTIRE SEAT OUT, not the child as much as possible. Removing the child from the seat unnecessarily compromises their c-spine. After an accident, if parent's haven't taken child out already, you either uninstall the car seat or cut the seatbelt/latch straps (seatbelt easily replaced by manufacturer, car seat needs to be replaced anyway). It is safer to immobilize a child in their seat with rolled towels, etc, than to lay them down on their back in the seat, slide them out, then immobilize them onto a board.

BOOOOOOOOO!!!!! :thumbsdown:
 

An Aurora

Senior Community Member
WHAT THE????????

In a real life situation, you take the ENTIRE SEAT OUT, not the child as much as possible. Removing the child from the seat unnecessarily compromises their c-spine. After an accident, if parent's haven't taken child out already, you either uninstall the car seat or cut the seatbelt/latch straps (seatbelt easily replaced by manufacturer, car seat needs to be replaced anyway). It is safer to immobilize a child in their seat with rolled towels, etc, than to lay them down on their back in the seat, slide them out, then immobilize them onto a board.

BOOOOOOOOO!!!!! :thumbsdown:

Yeah, I was going to say....too bad car seats can't be MORE complicated, to prevent well-meaning bystanders from yanking kids out of car seats before EMS get there. That is one of my biggest fears---that we'll get in a crash, I'll be unconscious/incapacitated, and some idiot will come running up and get the kids out of their seats. First, it's best if EMS just cuts the belts and transports them in their seats, and second, I do not want any random strangers handling my presumably already traumatized children, especially my youngest who HATES strangers.

[/rant]
 

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