Establishment procedure of child restraint systems reference list for ASEAN NCAP

Abstract

Babies and children below the age of 12 are the most vulnerable road users compared to older children (i.e., 12 years and above) and adults. To reduce the risk of severe injuries in the case of crashes or emergency braking, it is important that these groups of children are transported properly using age- or size-appropriate Child Restraint Systems (CRS) for as long as possible. As part of the ASEAN NCAP protocol, a so-called "CRS Reference List" that contains a sample of widely available, well-performing child seats in the ASEAN market was established to assess the vehicle’s ability to safely and correctly accommodate child seats. The reference list should be reviewed every two years following a systematic revision process and published in ASEAN NCAP’s website. In this paper, some shortlisted CRS identified in previous work would be assessed following ASEAN NCAP Child Occupant Protection (COP) protocol where the CRS performance is evaluated. The technical assessment is explained in detail in this paper, where several measurements taken during vehicle impact tests using several shortlisted CRS are shown. The final "CRS Reference List" would then be established by ASEAN NCAP following the systematic assessment process based on the findings and recommendations from this work for the future ASEAN NCAP COP assessment.