| The Swedish car manufacturer Volvo has always | | | | geometry which does not rely on the child's hips to |
| been known for prioritizing the safety of their | | | | support it. |
| consumers. As stated by the founders of the | | | | Not only babies should be protected carefully, unborn |
| company, Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson, "Cars | | | | ones should be taken cared of too while a pregnant |
| are driven by people. The guiding principle behind | | | | woman is in a vehicle. To develop safety features for |
| everything we make at Volvo therefore, is - and must | | | | pregnant women, Volvo uses pregnant crash dummies |
| remain - safety." | | | | to study the effects of a crash in a pregnant woman. |
| The company has been researching and developing | | | | To date, only Volvo has engineered a pregnant crash |
| safety features for their vehicles for forty years now. | | | | test dummy in the industry. |
| During that span of time, Volvo has come up with | | | | The pregnant crash dummy is named Linda by Volvo. |
| breakthrough systems which increase the protection | | | | Linda is used to determine how a pregnant mother and |
| that their vehicles offer to their consumers. | | | | the child inside the womb would react to various |
| According to the company, taking care of children | | | | collisions. Aside from the physical attributes of a |
| inside cars is of utmost concern for them. Small | | | | pregnant woman, Linda is also loaded with information |
| children need special restraints which are specifically | | | | about the uterus, placenta, amniotic fluid and the fetus. |
| designed for their asize. According to the company, | | | | This helps safety engineers to study how a child inside |
| the needs of babies in terms of car safety are very | | | | a womb reacts to violent motions as a result of car |
| different from that of grownups. | | | | crashes. The virtual pregnant Linda can be positioned in |
| A grownup's head accounts for about six percent of | | | | any way inside a car and the speed at which a car |
| the total eight of the person. In comparison, babies' | | | | crashes can also be set by researchers. |
| head comprises about one half of their total weight. | | | | With Linda, Volvo found out that pregnant women and |
| This hefty head is the weakest point of a baby. That | | | | their unborn child can e protected well by a front |
| is why it is of utmost importance that a baby should | | | | airbag. Volvo also found out that using a seat belt |
| be harnessed to a child seat which adequately | | | | does no harm to an unborn baby. The company |
| protects its head and other developing body parts. | | | | encourages pregnant women to always wear |
| Another concern is the developing pelvis of a child. | | | | seatbelts to adequately protect their unborn babies. |
| This portion of the body cannot adequately anchor a | | | | With the advancements made by Volvo, they have |
| seat belt in its proper position as easily as a grownup's | | | | become a leader in car safety. Their Volvo |
| hips can. To ensure that the child will be safe in the | | | | thermostat-equipped vehicles are known to be some |
| unfortunate case of crash, booster seats should be | | | | of the safest in the world. With their accomplishments, |
| provided for them. Booster seats are designed to fit a | | | | Volvo is keen to develop more safety features to |
| child's body snugly. It also has specialized belt | | | | reduce fatalities caused by traffic accidents. |