ARCCA is a recognized leader in child occupant crash protection and has consulted with NHTSA, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, National Safe Kids, and the PA Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. ARCCA’s research in this field has resulted in the publication of numerous papers on the topic of child occupant crash protection, and ARCCA has provided expert consultation on many cases involving infant, convertible, combination, and booster child safety seats. Issues addressed have included structural failures, side wings, energy-absorbing padding, tethers, shields, seat ramps, seat bottom compressibility, warnings and instructions.
In one such case, ARCCA conducted side impact sled testing and determined that the lack of large side wings lined with energy-managing padding and effective torso restraint resulted in the subject child’s severe head injury.
In another case, an ARCCA child safety expert identified belt-positioning boosters that do not incorporate anti-submarining features and, when combined with a highly compressible seating surface, resulted in the child incurring a spinal cord injury. The ARCCA expert identified and tested alternate designs that did not have the defects identified in the subject belt-positioning booster.