New Product Innovation Car Safety Seat Design
Idea Screening- While researching the idea of developing a car safety seat design for children’s car seats, I found out that there is actually a child car seat (the Zeus Turn Car Seat) that does swivel, at a price of $300. My new idea is to produce a car seat with a swivel bottom and head rest positioned safely to put ease of use and comfort at the forefront with a more affordable price. This product is a good idea because it is difficult to use car seats currently in use. Number one trying to manipulate a child in and out of the seat, without breaking your back or bumping the child’s head; and number two, designing one that makes lounging back easier when they are sleeping, preventing their heads from bopping forward.
Target Market- Children under four are required by law to be in safety car seats, and between 4 and 14 they need to be in a booster seat, dependent on their height, and weight. There is a large market, focusing on babies in car seats; generally both parents and grandparents purchase a car seat for one child. Not only do they purchase one, but at least two car seats in a child’s first four years, before they graduate to a booster seat. While using customer centered new product development, I believe there would be a good market for this product because many parents, grandparents, and child caregivers agree that currently maneuvering a car seat is a problem for them also. My target market would be all who purchase and use car seats for children, and maybe a future market would be for adults with special needs
Concept Development – My idea for the swivel is to create a base that would secure to your vehicle through belts or hooks. The car seat would have an attachment on the bottom that would slide into the base and when it turns forward or back facing it would snap in like a beater on a mixing machine. The concept for releasing it would also be the same, a lever in the back of the base to release it to turn toward the door when unbuckling. The back of the seat would position so you could recline it back a bit when the baby is sleeping, so the gravity would allow their heads to remain back, with extra cushioning on the sides. I don’t think it would take a lot of change in design to accomplish this. But during research and development, engineering would need to be utilized.
Product Development- During research, I found that Indiana Mills makes buckle and adjustment mechanisms for almost all of Americas manufacturers of car safety seats. Safety car seats fabrics, vinyl and threads have to meet strength requirements. Car safety seats must meet Federal standards. The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards establishes these regulations. I also found that the process of design conception through production takes from one to three years. (website: How Products are Made) Also of concern are patent rights, as there are so many models that may be similar. Car safety seats are sold by many different companies, low to high end in cost and style.
Test Market – Interviewing , promotion and convincing a distributor to try the product and then advertise in Parent magazines, and children’s stores, consumer promotions would be utilized .
Business Analysis: Most of the production costs would involve engineering and testing . The comfort and ease of use are priorities in developing this safety seat. The perception of parents and child needs are critical, as that will be the basis for promoting and selling the product. I am sure that the extended time in developing products such as safety seats, is due to the Federal guidelines that must be met. I would examine the very lowest priced car seats and compare them to the high end “Zeus” type car seat, and analyze the costs and what is required in trying to come up with affordability and quality for the customer. The main concern in developing this product would be on value and high standards.
I also found out another interesting piece of information, at the bottom of the webpage where I found the Zeus Turn car seat (website: just kids store), it states that seats made in the USA are not legal forms of restraint in Canadian cars. (What happens when you get to the border?) As this could be an issue for people who live close to the Canadian border, I would take this into consideration and try to develop a safety seat which passes standards in that country also, so to target that market of shoppers.
I believe it would be easy to find customers to try this safety seat as it would be creating a satisfying product and solve a customer problem.
