Automated Harness Tightener

DESCRIPTION provided by applicant Minnesota HealthSolutions MHS proposes to develop an improved harness tensioning system for motor vehicle child safety seats that aims to reduce the risk that the harness is slack Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for American children A total of children aged years or younger died as a result of unintentional motor vehicle traffic crashes from and hundreds of thousands more were injured Child safety seats are the most effective way to protect young children involved in motor vehicle crashes from serious injury or death Correctly used child safety seats have proven effective at controlling the childandapos s body in collisions however when the child harness is loose the childandapos s body moves excessively relative to the seat resulting in increased head accelerations and an increased likelihood of head contact with the vehicleandapos s interior surfaces The tightness of the harness on the childandapos s torso at the onset of the crash is directly related to the amount of head excursion and any slack in the harness results in increased head excursion Despite the importance of correctly tensioning the harness it is often under tensioned Multiple studies have observed that approximately of child safety seatsandapos harnesses are not tight enough leaving the child at substantially increased risk of injury or death in the event of a crash The proposed harness tensioning system aims to prevent the risky condition of under tensioned child safety seat harnesses via a technology intervention that provides better indications to the child seat user and a novel mechanism to maintain harness tension during the trip Injuries in children in particular head trauma during motor vehicle crashes will be reduced by reducing the prevalence of harness under tensioning The phase I program will design build and bench test a prototype seat with the improved harness system and conduct focus groups with potential users PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE Child safety seats are the most effective tool at preventing death and injuries to children in motor vehicle crashes We aim to reduce the risk that child safety seats will be misused and improve the performance of the seat in a crash The societal benefit of the proposed improvements to a child safety seat is that if successful it will improve the effectiveness of child safety seats by reducing the likelihood for head injuries