Child Car Seats

Hello. This is JPC’s Mail Magazine #8.

The other weekend, I went shopping at a department store. A friend of mine just had a baby and we were looking for a present. I have 2 children 13 & 14 years old, so we have not been to a baby section for more than 10 years. We were looking around on 7th floor, when I saw some push chairs and car seats I had never seen before.

As for push chairs, all of them now have air tyres and fancy add-ons . There are some expensive brands such as Maclaren. Children do not really care as long as they do the job. I guess they are made to attract mothers as a part of a trend or fashion.

We checked child car seats too. Some spin around, and some were well designed. The ones which caught my eyes were Recaro’s. Recaro seats, developed for sport cars, are well-known and Recaro child car seats are designed similarly to wrap baby’s body gently. You will instantly know it is a Recaro car seat if you see one. Reading the manual, Recaro seats are used in many different situations such as in airplanes, Bullet trains, as the bench seats for the famous Real Madrid soccer team, for people with back pain, etc, etc. The first seats for new born babies are called “Recaro Start”. When I was driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X at high speed on a highway, the Recaro seat was very comfortable and felt safe as it fits more snugly around my body as I am pushed back into the seat as the speed went up. I am sure even a baby can feel this while he/she is on a Recaro car seat with its stability.

Looking at child car seats made by other Japanese car manufacturers, the mainstream is a small bucket design. With a good waist & shoulder support, they are designed so that babies will not jump out of the seats with an impact. Some with a 4 or 5 point harness were the same structure as racing car full bucket seats & full harness. So when you think about the safety of a person who rides on it, they must all end up with the same design. Having these things in my mind, I was playing with them by turning them upside down and pulling bits & pieces. (Sorry to the shopkeeper but I did not buy one after all!)

Child car seats became compulsory for children under 6 years old in 2002 in Japan. The safety standard is higher using European standard not Japan’s one. This explains why they look heaps stauncher than those of 10 years ago.

You know you can reduce infant death rates by 75% and injury rates by 57% if you use child car seats properly. So if you have a child, protect him/her with a good car seat. This is all drivers’ responsibility!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
★ Japanese used car stock : http://jpctrade.com/stock/index.html
★ JPCTRADE Home page : http://jpctrade.com/
★ JPCTRADE Blog : http://jpctrade.blogspot.com/

(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
Kato building 4F, 1-1-2 Furuishiba, Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
TEL : +81-3-5245-7731
FAX : +81-3-3643-4955