Child Restraint System Archives

BMW Group Malaysia continues to help B40 income group with subsidies for childseats

BMW Group Malaysia has been among the more supportive car companies with regard to the introduction of childseats by car-owners. As far back as 2019, the company was already running a subsidy programme to help parents in the B40 income group to purchase childseats required when the mandatory requirement came into effect in 2020.

Now it has announced the NEXTStep Subsidy Programme in collaboration with long-term partner Safe ‘n Sound, to provide fully subsidised childseats to parents in the B40 income group. This programme is part of the BMW Safety 360° initiative. It follows on from the successful subsidy programme that saw over 300 childseats delivered to parents across Malaysia since the end of 2019.

The new subsidy programme will provide parents with childseats for children of up to 36 kgs with donations previously made by BMW Group Financial Services Malaysia.

*Over the past 2 years, BMW Group Malaysia has provided subsidies for parents in the B40 income to purchase childseats.*

“For over eight years, the BMW Safety 360° initiative has focused on raising awareness and encouraging action amongst families for more responsible road and car safety practices in Malaysia. Although we have placed a strong emphasis on child carseats in recent years with our many programmes and partnerships to advocate for the use of these seats, we recognise that the issue of low uptake must be tackled beyond verbal advocacy and partial subsidies, especially within communities that are in need in a time like this. With the NEXTStep Subsidy Programme, we aim to continue making child safety seats even more accessible to parents who can use a helping hand, ” said Hans de Visser, Managing Director of BMW Group Malaysia.

How to apply
The NEXTStep Subsidy Programme is applicable for families expecting a newborn or with a child up to 36 kgs, and whose monthly household income is below RM3,500. Parents can register at the Safe ‘n Sound website from now until May 22, 2022. Eligible applicants will be notified by Safe ‘n Sound via a WhatsApp to the contact number they provide.

Selected parents from outside the Klang Valley will be notified on the delivery status, while parents within the Klang Valley will be informed of a date, time and place to pick-up their new childseat. A suitable seat will be selected for the recipient according to their child’s respective weight and height, as well as vehicle requirement.

The range of fully subsidised childseats and prices (including shipping fees to recipients outside the Klang Valley) are shown below:

“For those still traveling back from their hometowns with their children, we would urge parents to think of their children’s safety by ensuring the right child car seats are used while on the road,” Mr. de Visser added.

https://www.piston.my/2021/02/10/bmw-group-financial-services-malaysia-contributes-over-rm200000-to-bmw-safety-360-subsidy-programme/

Lower-priced childseat now offered by Perodua

If you have a chance to watch a video of what happens to the occupants during a severe frontal collision, you will see how a child at the back who is not retrained will fly through the air, forward into the front seat or up onto the ceiling. They use dummies in crash tests but imagine if it is a real child…serious injuries and even death could occur.

For this reason, authorities in many countries have made use of childseats a mandatory requirement and in Malaysia, the same applies. While carmakers are not in the business of making childseats, some do try to help their customers by offering such items – referred to as Child Restraint Systems (CRS) – as accessories.

Lower-priced models from Perodua
Perodua has been offering childseats for many years now and recently introduced its Care Seat, a lower-priced new childseat suitable for both infants and toddlers. Priced at RM680 in Peninsular Malaysia and RM695 in East Malaysia, the Care Seat is suitable for children of all ages up to 12 (or weighing up to 36 kgs), replacing Perodua’s previous GearUp Infant and Toddler seats, which cost RM785 and RM975, respectively.

Even when restrained in a childseat, the child can be subjected to violent forces during an accident (above) and if unrestrained, can literally fly about the cabin (below). Pictures from crash tests by EuroNCAP.

“The Perodua Care Seat forms part of our continuous drive for higher road safety as a caring, People First company, in line with the government’s aspirations,” said Perodua President & CEO, Dato’ Zainal Abidin Ahmad.

“It bears repeating that all children should be properly secured in child seats in moving vehicles for their safety. In encouraging this, Perodua is bringing out a product that is durable, adaptable, comfortable, affordable and meets safety standards,” he added.

Meets international safety standards
The Care Seat complies with ECE R44/04 standards and can be rotated to face forward or backward (backwards is recommended by safety experts). It has 6 recline angles as well as a harness that self-adjusts according to headrest position.

It also has ISOFIX connectors which make it easy to install the seat and ensure it is secure. ISOFIX points are provided in the back seat area of all Perodua models.

*ISOFIX points are usually indicated by a tab or label on the rear seat. All Perodua models have ISOFIX points provided, including the Axia (below).*

“The Perodua Care Seat is more cost-effective as the same seat can be used for the child throughout, without needing to change from an infant to a toddler seat as the child gets older,” said Dato’ Zainal.

“Perodua will continue to spread awareness, educate and advocate the use of child seats amongst our customers. We hope the use of childseats in Malaysia will become commonplace one day – this would go a long way in reducing road injuries and fatalities, especially of our precious young ones,” he added.

Cost can be included H-P loan
Available in grey or blue, the Perodua Care Seat comes with a 1-year warranty which is double the warranty period of the outgoing GearUp Infant and Toddler seats. Parents who buy the Care Seat when purchasing their new Perodua vehicle can include it in the Hire-Purchase loan as it is an official accessory from the manufacturer.

Alternatively, if they wish to buy one separately, it is available at all authorised Perodua outlets nationwide. To locate an outlet near you, visit www.perodua.com.my.

‘Perodua Smart Build’ launched as carmaker’s first sustainable blueprint

BMW Safety 360° subsidy programme gets support from BMW Group Financial Services

BMW Group Financial Services Malaysia today committed, on behalf of their customers, to a RM100 donation to the BMW Safety 360° subsidy programme. The donation will come from every contract funded through BMW Engage, its online financing platform. By spending only 15 minutes to submit their applications through BMW Engage, customers can indirectly contribute to this good cause via BMW Group Financial Services.

25,000 applications for subsidised childseats
The BMW Safety 360° initiative subsidy programme was first introduced in December 2019 with Safe ‘n Sound and Childline Foundation. For that inaugural initiative, 150 units of infant carrier carseats were made available at a subsidised price of RM100 each. The initiative drew over 25,000 registrations from parents in the B40 income group. The second phase of the subsidy programme focused on equipping the remaining registrants from the first phase with a range of child safety seats for newborns to children of up to 36 kgs.

“Although the government has postponed the enforcement of the use of Child Restraint System (CRS) until the end of the year, we hope parents recognise the need for CRS to keep their children safe while on the road – no matter how short the driving distance. However, we recognise that advocating for child safety seats is a shared responsibility, and with BMW Safety 360° and its respective partners, we are also taking ownership to ensure more child safety seats are accessible to those in the B40 income group,” said Tobias Eismann, MD of BMW Group Financial Services Malaysia.

More supporters invited
Sashi Ambi, Head of Corporate Communications at BMW Group Malaysia, notes that the support from BMW Group Financial Services Malaysia’s has come at just the right time. “We are continuing to equip even more parents with child safety seats before the end of the year. Once again, we want to continue to urge individuals, partners and companies who have the means to support – be it through raising greater awareness on the topic through education, making child safety seats more accessible or reaching out to us for collaborations – to make child safety seats instinctive for parents moving forward,” he said.

BMW Engage is a first-of-its-kind online financing platform introduced by BMW Group Financial Services Malaysia which makes applying for financing for a BMW or MINI vehicle purchase easier. The process can be done from home or office, thereby supporting the government’s call to practice social distancing as much as possible so as to prevent spread of COVID-19.

It also supports the BMW Group’s overall contribution to sustainable environment by reducing the use of paper through digitised processes.

BMW Group Malaysia invites other companies to join in childseat subsidy initiative

BMW Malaysia’s Child Safety Seat Subsidy program moves to Phase 2

With the compulsory use of Child Restraint Systems (CRS), typically childseats, having been imposed at the beginning of this year, parents have to buy such seats if they want to bring their small children out in the car. However, for those in the lower income group, it may be tough to purchase this item. To help this group, BMW Malaysia, Safe ‘n Sound and Childline Foundation have announced the second phase of the child safety seat subsidy programme.

Helping the B40 group
The programme, aimed at the B40 group, will be supported by Shopee as its exclusive E-Commerce Partner alongside baby and children goods brands – KU.KU Duckbill and Otomo, educational toys and games distributor – Mideer, food storage sealing solutions provider – Ankou, and car performance parts and accessories provider – Kakimotor.

As part of the BMW Safety 360° initiative, the subsidy programme was first introduced in December 2019 with Safe ‘n Sound and Childline Foundation where 150 units of infant carrier car seats were made available at a subsidised price of RM100 each. The initiative drew over 25,000 registrations from parents in the B40 income group.

“Our aim with this initiative has always been to make the use of child safety car seats instinctively mandatory; a basic practice as parents to ensure that children are always safe in cars. We are very pleased that these brands have come in to help us to not only advocate the importance of child safety seats but also to make more child safety seats accessible to those in the B40 income group. We hope more partners will continue to join us in taking ownership of this shared responsibility as we move towards collectively affecting change,” said Sashi Ambi, Head of Corporate Communications at BMW Group Malaysia.

Second phase
The second phase of the subsidy programme will focus on equipping the remaining registrants from the first phase with a range of child safety seats for newborns to children of up to 36 kgs. This includes the snskidz Ace infant carrier car seat (for newborn to 13 kgs), the snskidz Sport car seat (for newborn to 18 kgs) and the snskidz Proto (for 2 year-olds to 36 kgs). All snskidz child safety seats carry the ECE R44-04 certification.

Each of the snskidz child safety seats will be made available with the RM50 in subsidy amount, on top of a discounted price from Safe ‘n Sound that is exclusive for recipients of the subsidy programme. The snskidz Ace will be available at a subsidised price of RM99 (normally RM199) while the snskidz Sport and snskidz Proto will be priced at RM169 (RM269) and RM249 (RM349), respectively.

Recipients of the subsidy programme will receive a unique Shopee voucher worth RM113 which can be applied upon check-out at a dedicated microsite.

Raising additional funds
In hopes of accelerating the delivery of child safety seats amongst the first 25,000 registrants, BMW Malaysia, Safe ‘n Sound and Childline Foundation are also initiating a public fund-raiser on the microsite. There is no minimum amount of contributions required from individuals. All funds raised will be channelled to Childline Foundation to subsidise as many child safety seats as possible for the remaining registrants.

“The new partners coming in to help us with this programme could not arrive at a better time, especially in light of the upcoming Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations. We want to continue to urge individuals, partners and companies who have the means to help subsidise these child safety seats to come together and take part in this movement to make child safety seats the first thing parents think about when they have their children in vehicles – whether by raising greater awareness on the topic through education, making child safety seats more accessible, or reaching out to us to be a part of the subsidy programme. We do hope to further accelerate delivery with the help and support from all Malaysians nationwide,” said Mr. Ambi.

BMW Group Malaysia invites other companies to join in childseat subsidy initiative

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