"When engineering and design come together with a bit of serendipity at Toyota, any issue can be addressed – especially when the development of a solution is powered by a mother’s love and passion. Safety is always a priority at Toyota, and the drive for safety innovation continues every day. Sometimes, the genesis is a random conversation between colleagues in the break room.
Jennifer Pelky is a Toyota principal engineer of vehicle performance development for interior safety, vice chair-elect of the National Child Passenger Safety Board, and mother of two. Lindsay Babian is a Toyota principal engineer of body design for seats and mother of one. While having lunch in the cafeteria of Toyota’s Michigan R&D facility in 2019, the pair’s conversation steered toward the confusion they had both experienced when installing different makes of child car seats in different types of vehicles.
That’s when the eureka moment struck. If even professional safety engineers and designers struggled with car seats, then many parents, grandparents and guardians also probably needed more help and information. The conversation resulted in Toyota for Families – a new digital toolkit featuring detailed car seat installation instructions and video that officially launched in March 2021 for the Toyota Sienna.
“I designed the parts for securely attaching a car seat myself, yet there is still some confusion about proper car seat installation, which can become a real problem,” Babian said. “When Jen approached me with this, I saw the need for a solution. Now, parents, caregivers and grandparents who find it a challenge will have a tool to help them succeed.”
Always striving for safety improvement
Despite best efforts, vehicle crashes remain a leading cause of death among American children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Though car seat technology has improved considerably from the days of children sitting on telephone books or riding on package trays, research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that over half of all car seats are installed incorrectly.
Proper installation and use of car seats can reduce injuries in a crash by more than 70% (NHTSA) , and booster seats can reduce the risk of injury by 45% (CDC). To take advantage of those safety benefits, consumers could use more information about proper car seat installation in vehicles. COVID-19 also created an even greater need for easier access to instruction, since social distancing requirements make it more difficult for parents to get the in-person installation help they often need. Pelky and Babian set out to provide more accessible information.
“With all the different seat combinations that exist in many vehicles, people can use more assistance,” Pelky said.
Necessity is the mother of invention. But, in this case, these enterprising mothers were the mothers of invention. With a goal of 100% of car seats installed correctly, the duo addressed a question that needed a logical, simple answer. How can Toyota use its customer apps and website to demonstrate and explain how to properly install a variety of car seats in Toyota vehicles?
The team also enlisted the help of Janelle Pharris, a mom of two and advanced technology senior planner for Toyota, whose previous work background includes marketing for Newell Brands’ Graco® line of car seats and strollers.
Then, the three women got to work on their child seat safety project as a “shared passion project” focusing first on the highly anticipated 2021 Toyota Sienna. During development, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, forcing all to work remotely – Pelky and Babian in Michigan and Pharris in Texas.
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