Even though car seat monitors are not currently mandated by the Federal government, or installed as standard equipment in car seats or vehicles, two engineers have developed an inexpensive solution: the Cars-N-Kids Car Seat Monitor.

A recent article in the Detroit News got our attention and we contacted Bobby Steffen, one of the two engineers, for more information on the car seat monitor, how it works, and when it will be available.

Steffen says his interest in such a device began 12 years ago when his son Aaron would get out of his car seat and Steffen was unaware his child was unrestrained. Thankfully, there were no problems that occurred, but it got Steffen to thinking that there should be some device that would prevent kids from wriggling free of car seats.

Being unrestrained in cars involved in traffic accidents is the leading cause of injury and death for children ages two to eight, says Steffen.

Then, in 2007, Steffen and Greg Schoenberg, a long-time Ford engineer, learned about a child who had been left unattended in a car and died. According to the safety advocacy organization KidsandCars.org, on average, about 38 children die each year die from heatstroke as a result of being left unattended in cars in hot weather.

Steffen and Schoenberg decided to do something about this and jointly developed the Cars-N-Kids Car Seat Monitor.

What it is

The Cars-N-Kids Car Seat Monitor is a thin, small, pressure-sensitive rectangular device that parents or caregivers can place between the child’s car seat itself and the car seat cover.

Using a special smartphone app and Bluetooth cell phone technology, the monitor sends an alert to the parent if the child leaves the seat or when a child is still in the car seat five minutes after the vehicle has stopped moving.

In addition, the monitor can also notify the parents of the temperature in the car seat, enabling the parent to adjust rear-seat climate controls to remedy the too-cold or too-hot temperature.

The only other requirement is three AAA batteries to power the monitor. These should be changed about every four months, according to Steffen.

“This system will help save the lives of children,” Steffen tells FamilyCarGuide. “It is low cost for parents and would not be an added expense to car manufacturers or anyone who does not have children.”

The Cars-N-Kids Car Seat Monitor, patent pending, will retail for $60. The phone app is free. Steffen says the monitor can be used from infant seat through booster. The stand-alone system will be available in January 2012.

Beyond that, Steffen says they are currently working with a couple of car seat manufacturers on an integrated system which could be available by summer.

For more information on the Cars-N-Kids Car Seat Monitor, go to www.carseatmonitor.com or call 1-800-631-5207.

By Suzanne Kane – Source: http://www.familycarguide.com/news/1070152_monitor-alerts-parents-if-kids-wiggle-out-of-car-seats

Bobby Steffen recalls that his middle daughter — now 13 years old — had this habit of freeing herself from her car seat when she was little more than an infant.

“She liked to get out of her car seat going down the road,” Steffen remembers.

Such a situation can be dangerous. Being unrestrained in cars involved in traffic accidents is the No. 1 cause of death for children ages 2 to 8, Steffen notes.

Leaving a child in a car seat too long, however, also can be dangerous.

Four years ago, Steffen, who owns a boat rental business, read in his local newspaper about a doctor who forgot to take her child out of a car seat on a hot St. Louis day. The child died, as do some 50 children a year who are left in cars in hot or cold weather, Steffen learned.

To alert parents when children escape their seats or to remind them to remove a child once the car is parked, Steffen and a friend and business partner, long-time Ford engineer Greg Schoenberg, created a solution — the Cars-N-Kids Car Seat Monitor.

The monitor is a small, thin, pressure-sensitive rectangle device that is placed between the car-seat cover and the child’s car seat itself.

Using Bluetooth cell phone technology and a special smartphone app, the monitor alerts a parent when a child leaves the seat or when a child is still in a car seat five minutes after the vehicle has stopped moving.

The monitor also can notify a parent of the temperature in the seat so he or she can properly adjust rear-seat climate controls, Steffen said.

The monitor can be used with any size child’s car seat, he said.

The monitor is powered by three AAA batteries, which Steffen said should be changed every four months.

Suggested retail price for the Cars-N-Kids Car Seat Monitor is $39.95

For information, visit www.carseatmonitor.com.

Larry Edsall is a Phoenix-based freelance writer. You can reach him at ledsall@cox.net.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111124/AUTO03/111240324/Seat-monitor-improves-child-car-safety#ixzz1eqNwY5U6

Researchers at Yale University’s School of Medicine found some children as young as 12 months can unbuckle their seatbelts. A majority of youngsters less than three years old can do it, with boys most often the ones attempting to unhook their seatbelts.

“Young children might acquire the motor skills to unbuckle from restraints before developing the cognitive ability to understand the necessity of automotive restraints,” said Dr. Lilia Reyes, a clinical fellow at Yale and co-author of the report.

Researchers said the findings should prompt a broader study on devices that would keep kids safer, particularly because car crashes are a leading cause of death among four to eight years old.

The findings, which will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in Denver on Sunday, are based on 500 surveys distributed at pediatric offices in Connecticut.

More than 40 percent of children who are able to unbuckle the restraints are doing so while the car is moving, prompting many parents to pull over, reprimand and then re-buckle the child, according to the study.

The idea for the study came after researchers treated patients from accidents caused by the unbuckling and parents, distracted by their children, looking away from the road, Reyes said.

Reyes said she would like to see a future study include a simulation lab to test safety features on a variety of restraints.

Better engineered seatbelts, or even an alarm, might be part of the solution, Reyes added.

Reporting by Lauren Keiper; editing by Patricia Reaney

Original Article: http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/05/01/us-child-seatbelts-idINTRE7400PC20110501