The data that will help improve industry efforts to make vehicles, and their rear seats in particular, safer for older children.
General Motors has joined the advisory board of the Center for Child Injury Prevention Studies (CChIPS) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute. GM researchers will help CChIPS faculty in a study aimed at improving safety belt performance and decreasing the child injury rate during vehicle crashes.
The GM team will work with CChIPS faculty at Children’s Hospital and University of Pennsylvania, as well as other CChIPS members at vehicle manufacturers, restraint suppliers, child seat manufacturers, and the insurance industry to compare injury and fatality risks for children using safety belts with those of adults in similar crashes.
The 10-month study will explore why some children who are 8-15 years of age experience injuries in vehicle crashes even when wearing a safety belt.
Toyota announced last month that it is launching a safety research center at the Toyota Technical Center (TTC) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As part of this program, Toyota researchers and engineers are also working with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute on protecting children, teens and seniors in accidents. These groups account for about 30% of U.S. traffic fatalities.
(See Toyota Announces a New Safety Research Center in Michigan)
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
