# Intuitive Child Safety Seat to Increase Security

> **NIH NIH R44** · MINNESOTA HEALTHSOLUTIONS CORPORATION · 2024 · $914,790

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Minnesota HealthSolutions Corporation (MHS) proposes to develop a child safety seat with a novel intuitive
harness tensioning system to improve the rate of proper harnessing of children into child safety seats. Children are
harnessed into child safety seats via a 5-point harness with shoulder straps that buckle at the crotch. The entire
harness assembly must be properly tensioned to ensure safety. Loose harnesses are a common misuse in child
safety seats. Several large studies have observed that only 10% to 20% of children are correctly harnessed into
correctly installed seats. Improper use of child restraints substantially reduces their effectiveness and is a major
public health concern. The proposed child safety seat will utilize an all mechanical, intuitive system to improve
proper use of the child safety seat harness. We hypothesize that a child safety seat that provides an intuitive and
easy-to-use harness system will significantly improve the rate of proper child safety seat usage and reduce vehicle
crash-related child injuries and deaths. An interdisciplinary team of researchers has been assembled to define,
build, and evaluate a prototype system.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10931745
- **Project number:** 5R44HD097846-03
- **Recipient organization:** MINNESOTA HEALTHSOLUTIONS CORPORATION
- **Principal Investigator:** Sara Seifert
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $914,790
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10931745

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10931745, Intuitive Child Safety Seat to Increase Security (5R44HD097846-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10931745. Licensed CC0.

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