Chinese standard on child seats to launch at end of the year

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As Chinese consumers become more affluent, they naturally aim to buy things that other middle class, socially mobile consumers wish to buy, and that is usually an automobile. Sadly the number of Chinese drivers that insist on letting their kids stand up in the front seat, or jump around on the back seat whilst driving is a worrying aspect of driving in China. A round of hard hitting informercials on the dangers of not making your children sit buckled up ought to be run on prime time television, as the statistics for child death in automobiles are horrifying:

Xinhua gives us the stats:

BEIJING, June 1 –Many parents across the nation are unaware of child safety seats for automobiles and do not know how to protect their children when they are riding inside a car, according to a survey and safety experts.

As Chinese families become more affluent, many parents may buy a car for family holidays or taking their children along on shopping trips. However, children may be exposed to certain risks when the father or mother is at the steering wheel.

Statistics show that about 18,500 children under age 14 die in traffic accidents in China each year. The death rate is 2.5 times higher than in European countries, Beijing News reported Monday.

The report said that less than 0.1 percent of vehicles sold in China are equipped with child safety seats, a much lower percentage than in other countries.

Guo Sanming, a sales agent for child safety seats, told the Global Times Monday that among hundreds of car models sold in China, only about 20 models come equipped with special attachments for a child safety seat.

Guo sells only about 150 baby seats in Beijing each month, and fewer than that in other cities.

“The low awareness about the seat is the reason for the bleak business,” he said.

Some parents said they have heard of child safety seats, but believe they have taken enough precautions to protect their kids.

“If I take my child, I will drive slowly and fasten her seat belt,” said the mother of a two-year-old girl in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.

A survey by the online news portal of Zhejiang Province showed that 80 percent of parents believe that hugging their kids while the car is moving, or holding children on the parent’s knees will protect them.

“They are totally wrong,” experts were quoted as saying.

The report said that parents can barely hold onto their children if the car brakes to a sudden stop at 40 kilometers an hour.

The air bag that inflates in a collision can be a child killer. The bag explodes with such force that it can fracture the cervical vertebra and suffocate the child rather than save the toddler’s life, the report said.

Last month in Beijing, a father and his child were killed while waiting for a traffic light when another vehicle crashed into the car from the rear.

“Having children in a secure and safe environment is an obligation for every adult,” Zhang Xuemei, the deputy director of the Beijing Voluntary Lawyers for Protection of Minors, told the Global Times Monday.

There are no safety regulations or provisions for mandatory child safety seats and no quality standards for the baby seats, Guo said.

China News Service reported Monday that the country’s first national standard relating to child protection in motor vehicles is expected to be issued next month.

The Chinese agency responsible for crash testing cars is also planning to step up crash testing with the addition of rear end crash testing, the only crash testing agency in the world, aside from the USA’s, that has so far carried out these tests.