Page '¿Por qué los 'inventos caseros' pueden ser peligrosos para transportar a niños con necesidades especiales?'

19/02/2018

All children, without exception, have the right to travel under optimal safety conditions. This means that all children have the right to be able to use a child restraint system suitable for their height and weight and, above all, one that is appropriate for their specific features. Naturally, not all children have the same needs. There are children who have a series of special needs and others that develop them throughout their life. Nevertheless, all children should travel safely. 

This often leads parents to try to devise ways of transporting their children in the best way possible by car. Often we are not talking merely about safety but also ergonomics. There are children that should travel in as upright a position as possible, or who need special cushioning or have breathing problems. All these children have special needs and require special child restraint systems and should have their journey adapted to these particular features. We offer recommendations on traveling safely in our section on ‘’. 

Unfortunately, in general companies do not manufacture this type of adapted child restraint system as they are not profitable. Manufacturing them requires a considerable investment and high costs. This also means that they end up costing a lot to purchase and are not affordable for most families. In addition, there is very little government help to acquire this type of car seat. 

For all these reasons, parents come up with homemade ways to allow their children to travel by car. However, these modifications of child car seats can compromise a child's safety and are not properly approved. Homemade bassinets are made without the necessary securing, and adaptations have even been made with surf boards, as related by Miguel Rodríguez Molina, Physiotherapist of the Brittle Bone Disease Association (AHUCE) during the  ’, held by Fundación MAPFRE to address this concern. 

We should bear in mind that a manufacturer only guarantees the safety of the CRS if no modifications have been made to it, since this can reduce its effectiveness in an accident. For this reason, the workshop concluded that this problem can only be addressed from a multidisciplinary perspective, given that there are no specific technical solutions or legislation concerning how these children should be traveling.

As well as guaranteeing their safety, we also need to ensure they travel with dignity, especially in the most severe cases. 

Aware is this problem, there are increasingly more people concerned for these children.Such as, for example, . Although it is not on the market, the manufacturer offers the option of renting one out through its Customer Service department while the child is receiving treatment.

At Fundación MAPFRE, with Safedesign  and the collaboration of the Spanish Brittle Bone Disease Association (AHUCE) and the Spanish Federation of Rare Diseases (FEDER), work is also being carried out on a specific child car seat for children with better known as brittle bone disease. This seat, called ‘Gemini’, has been designed for Groups 1 and 2. It features folding sides so that the child can be placed into the seat flat without causing him or her injuries. It also has a 3-point harness with an emergency retractor in order to properly secure the child. 

The CRS is positioned at a 45 degree angle given that this is less damaging for neck tension and is considered to be a comfortable angle. In addition, it boasts memory foam which molds itself to the child. 

The prototype is currently at the economic optimization stage in order that a manufacture will, by also appealing to their social responsibility, make it available to families.