Clever Volvo Child Seat Concept Has Appeal

The Florida Department of Motor Vehicles states on its website: “Never put your child in a child auto seat in the front of a vehicle with a passenger air bag”.

The XC90 Excellence and the Lounge Console Concept, revealed in Shanghai, follows on their ‘in-car office’ concept.

The firm noted its new initiative to develop the Excellence Child Seat in a press release on July 2nd.

The crossover is a four-seat version with extended legroom of Volvo’s seven-seat XC90 SUV. “We have always placed a great deal of importance on child safety, but this takes things to the next level”, she said.

While there is no word on when or if this auto will go from concept to reality, the idea is intriguing.

That way, one parent can sit in the back seat facing the child.

The baby seat swivels toward the door when the child is being seated and then locks in a rear-facing position, according to Volvo.

Storage space underneath, in front of, and beside the child seat gives parents room to store tote bags and other supplies.

What do you think of this new concept (which, incidentally, also includes heated cup holders for keeping a baby’s bottle warm)?

While it’s a creative world concept, it could face trouble in the US, where many state require that children ride in the rear seat.

Volvo has studied child safety in cars, and believes that small children should travel facing rearward up until the age of 3 or 4 in order to reduce damage to their necks during potential accidents. For its part, though, Volvo said of its new child-safety seat that “from a safety perspective there is no difference between the rear seat or front seat, given that the airbag is disconnected”.