Taking the Spirit mars lander as a model, it seems possible to add an airbag to a child seat. In a collision, the child seat could even be ejected from the car at the same time as a set of balloons are rapidly inflated in a cocoon around the child. The inflated ball would bounce around until is stops, then deflate an area large enough for baby to breathe.
(later) In addition to the balloons, there will be a thruster module with retro rockets and parachute to position your child out of the way of traffic for a soft landing.-- Worldgineer, Jan 28 2004 Body Airbag http://web.archive..../idea/Body_20airbagThanks [kbecker] for reminding me to post this. [Worldgineer, Oct 05 2004, last modified Apr 19 2012] Landing Video http://marsrovers.j...h_edl_TerrorPt3.mpg5 MB MPEG [Worldgineer, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Carkoon http://www.huffingt...seat_n_1424253.htmlOn its way to being baked. [Worldgineer, Apr 17 2012] I hope this device will be more reliable than the recent Mars landers.-- kbecker, Jan 28 2004 They landed fine. It's not my problem if you kid has faulty software.
See link (warning: large file download) for the idea as I'm imagining it.-- Worldgineer, Jan 28 2004 Not for use on Mars, then.-- DrCurry, Jan 28 2004 ejected from the car?-- theircompetitor, Jan 29 2004 Bad idea. The whole reason you're supposed to keep a small child in the back seat is because of the danger airbags pose to them (the rapid deployment has actually decapitated children).-- Size_Mick, Jan 29 2004 Size_Mick beat me too it, and I totally agree..
Airbags + Babies = bad news.
Must [-] this due to the fact that babies should never be placed anywhere near airbags. Airbags deploy at about 200mph. Every hear the term "Snap like a toothpick"...-- v0rtexx, Jan 29 2004 [SM] and [vo], but I don't think you undertand why airbags are dangerous to children. Airbags are designed for adults - if they were designed for children they would be safe for them. Perhaps I should be more clear.
This idea is for a infant seat, similar in design to the type that has a handle that you can pick up and remove from the car. The difference is that it is almost completely enclosed. This infant cocoon has small deflated air bags surrounding it. There is no chance of decapitation. Nothing will snap like a toothpick.-- Worldgineer, Jan 29 2004 YYYYYYessssss!!! Get'em while they're warm.-- Kitchensink, Jan 29 2004 Well I took back my vote because you made the point that it would be designed to not snap off children's heads. But I think it still sounds dubious and I think it might be a tough sell to the public after we've all been conditioned to have fears of airbags and kids.-- Size_Mick, Jan 29 2004 What happens if you have an accident in a tunnel or under a bridge? The baby gets splatted on the roof (since you'd have to eject then deploy the airbag once the baby was clear), or at least wedged up there. And I'm not convinced you could steer this or use retro-rockets when it was inflated.
Maybe you want to fit the baby into a computer-controlled microlight mounted on the roof.-- kropotkin, Jan 29 2004 If you have an exploding infant, don't take it in the car at all, Shirley?-- English Bob, Jan 29 2004 The idea of seeing this in action is entertaining....
However the main problem is that you can't control where it will end up landing. Also, will the high G-forces of the launch harm the child?-- KLRico, Jan 29 2004 I suppose you would not want the bags going off in the car anyway, anyone sitting next to the baby would get hit from the bag as well as the accident. So ejection seems better. It a tunnel wouldn't the airbag/baby bounce off the roof? You would also need a non-rocket system at least for the initial ejection phase, perhaps like some aircraft seats with a ram that pushes the seat out. Also must blow a hole in the car roof or use a detachable panel. Only really bad place for this to go off (apart from heavy traffic) would be on a bridge over the sea.-- swifty, Jan 29 2004 It would also be entertaining in a safari park. Watch the lions play catch.-- kropotkin, Jan 29 2004 If you kids don't quit fighting back there, I'm going to shoot you out the roof.-- GenYus, Jan 29 2004 Wouldn't the force of the ejection be enough to squish the infant into little googoo?-- Space-Pope, Jan 29 2004 [krop] Air bags can inflate pretty fast. I'm picturing them fully inflated by the time the seat's a foot or two over the car. Why aren't you convinced retro rockets could be used? Look at the video - I want it to look just like that.
[swifty] Good catch - it should be designed to keep the breathing part of the baby above water. An emergency transponder should be designed in to find your baby in the ocean.
[SP] Nope. No goo. I'm seeing this as an integrated part of the car - with a sloping ramp in the forward direction. The ejector part is designed to launch upward and can be designed for only a few G's. If this doesn't launch the infant in time then the seat is still ejected from the force of the collision alone, and the airbags inflate in time to protect the baby from any oncoming obstacles.-- Worldgineer, Jan 29 2004 As I understand it fighter pilots endure an extreme amount of G-Force while ejecting (10-11 G's so I've heard). Would not the baby , though moving slower than a jet airplane, still endure a moderate G-Force in this same process? Underdeveloped, pliable bones + 2-3 G's = Baby Smoothie-- Apologetic_Cynic, Jan 29 2004 //2-3 G's = Baby Smoothie// You've got to be kidding. There's at least 1.5 G's in an elevator ride, and about 2 G's when you throw a baby and catch them. Besides, the alternative is many more G's as your car impacts another with the baby inside.-- Worldgineer, Jan 29 2004 My concern is not so much will the baby survive the impact (I trust you, [Worldgineer]), but rather, where will it land? I couldn't trust a baby bubble to the highway or a river or on power lines.-- k_sra, Jan 29 2004 That's the job of retro rockets and some good artificial intellegence. If you'd feel better about it, we can have it land back on your mangled car instead of looking for a nearby field or parking lot.-- Worldgineer, Jan 29 2004 //I couldn't trust a baby bubble ... on power lines// Trust it, perhaps some GM magic happens and electric-eel man is born! Defends freedom by shocking evildoers with glaring arcs. Prevents black-outs by inserting various body parts into wall outlets to support the power grid. -- His alter ego is just a plain, humble Windows repair man (Microsoft certified) in a call center.-- kbecker, Jan 29 2004 Not only babies. Have everybody be ejected. Going into D.C on a busy rush hour morning there would be people everywhere inflated. Wouldn't that be fun.-- bkornele, Feb 16 2004 //and about 2 G's when you throw a baby and catch them// [worldengineer] you do this regularly?-- Klaatu, Feb 16 2004 Nope, no babies myself. But I hear they enjoy this.-- Worldgineer, Feb 17 2004 Just 8 years later, the market's on its way to catching up with me [link]. They don't eject the seat from the vehicle, but it's a start.-- Worldgineer, Apr 17 2012 I'm glad it was you that annoed this. Your first link is now a dud, and I was hoping to see it.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 17 2012 Link fixed.-- Worldgineer, Apr 19 2012 Cool. Was it lost in the crash? [kbecker]'s account is still here.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 19 2012 <random> Insulted, the motorcycle gang gets off their bikes, come together and start walking towards our hero, flicking switchblades, wrapping chains around their hands, stropping machetes on leathers. One of the riders' chains accidentally hits his neighbour's leathers and, in a domino effect, all the gang members blow up, turning into a bunch of opaque zorbs, rolling/bouncing downhill, yelling obscenities. </random>-- FlyingToaster, Apr 19 2012 Does the infant explode before or after being ejected?-- jaksplat, Apr 20 2012 random, halfbakery