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GM Aims to Improve Child Safety Belts

American manufacturer GM is determined to get to the bottom of a problem that has been bugging it for some time now. During research of safety belt for children, the auto maker found that some children 8-15 years of age who are wearing their safety belts still get injured in case of an impact.

As a result, the car maker announced the start of a 10-month study meant to find the causes for these injuries. For this study, GM will partner with the Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies (CChIPS) on the one side and vehicle manufacturers, restraint suppliers, child seat manufacturers and insurance companies on the other side.

“Child passenger safety is a priority for GM,” said Mike Robinson, GM vice president of Environment, Energy and Safety Policy.  “The additional expertise provided by the Center’s faculty and members of the advisory board, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, will supplement GM’s ongoing work.”

The car maker will look into injury and fatality risks for children using safety belts with those of adults in similar restraints. The result will be used to improve the design of the safety belts, if needed.

“We welcome GM’s participation in our consortium and the opportunity to have access to the company’s research and development expertise,” said Flaura Winston, director of the Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies.

“The safety belt study will be greatly enhanced by GM’s participation and will provide crucial data that will improve industry efforts to make vehicles, and their rear seats in particular, safer for older children.”
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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