How much is the life of your child worth? Every parent will answer ‘priceless’, of course. Every effort will be made to ensure that this priceless human will be well protected from any kind of harm. And when it comes to travelling in a motor vehicle, that means providing the best protection in the event of an accident.
For small children, specially designed childseats to suit their smaller size have been in use since the early 1960s. Evolving from the designs by Jean Ames and Leonard Rivkin in 1962, childseats have offered better protection and comfort with the use of new materials and structures. Today, there is a wide variety of childseats and international standards to ensure they provide sufficient protection.
For parents who want to give their child the very best protection, babyark, an innovative child safety tech company, has introduced a new childseat for babies (and up to 6 years old) that is very advanced. It is designed and engineered to meet the highest standards of safety using unique impact-absorbing technology, advanced materials including carbonfibres and a comprehensive connected sensor system.
The baby seat, which also has the same name as the company, was developed by Frank Stephenson Design. Stephenson is the man responsible for the design of some of the most powerful and iconic cars including BMWs, Ferraris, Maseratis, McLarens, MINI and Fiat 500 models. For the babyseat, Stephenson drew inspiration from the worlds of aerospace engineering and performance cars and utilising military-grade technology.
Like the structure around the cabin of modern cars which forms a safety cell to protect the occupants, the babyark has the structural integrity and simplicity of an egg and is shaped like a pod. With energy-absorbing technology and a lightweight carbonfibre frame, the seat’s ‘SafeCoil’ steel-based shock absorption system gently slows the seat forward momentum at a safe and controlled rate.
The seat is also geared with a unique ‘BioArk’ side impact protection, bio-mimicking the woodpecker’s unique plate-like bone natural protection system. Accelerometers and gyroscopes within the seat can record the force of any crash and the data will let users know whether the seat can be reused. Naturally, all materials used are flame-retardant as well.
14 sensors are installed in the seat’s base, constantly monitoring a wide range of parameters. babyark can signals to the caregiver if the seat is properly installed and, in addition, via a smartphone app, it will signal if the child is properly buckled.
The babyark seat can be installed both rear-facing and front-facing positions, depending on the child’s age and weight. For infants and small toddlers, it should be rear-facing, while for children who weigh more than 25 kgs, it should ‘convert’ to front-facing position.
Securing the seat in the car is done using LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) which is the American version of the ISOFIX standard for installing childseats without using seatbelts. These dedicated systems provide a more secure and stable installation and the mounting points are found in most new cars today.
“After my time within the automotive industry, I have always wanted to go beyond simply designing vehicle shapes. Safety standards and designs within the industry have evolved significantly, and yet we easily neglect the technology required for child safety. babyark’s disruptive business approach and its exposed design, which takes inspiration from protective shapes in nature around us, aims to embrace the occupant and provide safety and luxury for users,” said Stephenson of his first children’s product.
The babyark seat is sold online at US$1,190 (about RM5,380) and deliveries will start from May this year. Each purchaser will have the ForeverSafe warranty which relates to the SafeCoil shock-absorption system which upon impact is activated, requiring replacement. In such a case, the company will replace the entire seat free of charge (once per purchase).
