History of Baby Car Seats
Have you ever wondered about the history of baby car seats? Well, this is one device that can be traced all the way back to 1898...well, kind of...
The very first invention of this sort consisted of a drawstring sack that attached to the seat of a car. This sack was meant to keep a child in place while a parent was driving, and it really didn’t do any good at all. Since cars were very expensive during this time, there weren’t that many of them on the road. Hence, child safety inside of a car was a concept that never occurred to most parents. Once more people began to purchase cars, the history of baby car seats began to change.
Around the year 1930, another contraption was built to keep children in place while a car was in motion. This type of apparatus was really not all that different from the sack that was used during the 1800s, and it proved to be entirely useless as well. However, during this time more and more people were buying cars, which is why the safety belt was invented during this era. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the first seat designed to keep a child safe was built.
This very first protective seat was designed by a Swedish company that recognized the need for safety inside of a moving vehicle. This seat faced towards the back of the car, and it did a relatively good job of protecting children. Unfortunately, most parents didn’t see the need to use this type of safety device, and the Swedish company went out of business. In fact, it wasn’t until the early Eighties that parents began to realize just how important child safety was. During the Eighties, the history of baby car seats really began to change for the better.
It took a massive amount of collaborating by manufacturers, governments, and concerned parents to enforce child safety laws. Thanks to numerous studies, parents finally began to see just how important protecting a child inside of a car was. By the end of the Eighties, nearly every parent has their children in some type of protective seat.
As you can tell, the history of baby car seats is certainly interesting. Thankfully, we have now learned just how important infant safety inside of a moving vehicle is.