Lawmakers and consumer protection organizations have significantly intensified safety requirements for child car seats across various age groups
The best example is the UN ECE R129 regulation, which was implemented in three stages and will go into effect in 2019 and, for the first time, stipulates side impact tests, among other things, for child car seat approval. MESSRING has taken action to ensure that testers can keep up with this development. The global market leader in crash test facilities and their components now offers a comprehensive range of sled mounts for all internationally relevant test standards (UN ECE R129, UN ECE R44, FMVSS 213) as well as the ADAC child car seat test, which is also considered to be an international benchmark. MESSRING offers a total of five sled mounts for restraint systems, available individually or as part of a package. Depending on the application, they can be used on the acceleration sled CIS (Compact Impact Sled), the deceleration sled with MESSRING’s Hydrobrake, or other sled models.
“Sled mounts form a key link between the sled system and the child car seat to be tested,” explains Dierk Arp, Managing Director of MESSRING. The functionality, workmanship, and reliability of the mounts play an important role in ensuring efficient use and test results of consistently high quality. In the past, facility operators often had to improvise with their own developments to reproduce the different test scenarios. “Thanks to standardized mounts, those days are now over,” says Arp. “That saves time and money and delivers much better results.”
MESSRING is currently focusing on two concepts. The first is the R129 model with integrated damper system, door element, and bench seat. This mount makes it possible to carry out all of the sequences for front, rear, and side impact tests with child car seats as defined by lawmakers in accordance with the UN ECE R129 regulation. Depending on the test scenario, the bench seat merely needs to be turned and adjusted into the desired position. Within a distance of just 15 centimeters, the CIS accelerates the door panel to 25 km/h as required for the side impact test. Afterwards, it initiates deceleration. The damper system developed by MESSRING is responsible for the desired progression of the relative speed and deceleration of the bench seat.
All of the acceleration and deceleration values are achieved hydraulically during the test runs, thus eliminating the need for additional damping materials. Following completion of the test, a Styrodur panel in the door simply needs to be replaced, after which the mount is ready to go again.
In addition to the test runs required for approval, the child car seat test of ADAC, Europe’s largest automobile club, is also becoming more and more important. Anyone who wants to recreate this testing system can now find the right sled mounts for child car seats at MESSRING. As the first supplier in the market MESSRING offers reproductions modeled after the ADAC structures / specifications with millimeter precision.
The basis of the seat mount for the frontal impact test is a body in white of the latest Golf 7 featuring an integrated bench seat with ISOFIX attachment. MESSRING engineers have modeled the sled mount after the ADAC original with precision, so that the position, seat angle, and seat height are identical. MESSRING now also offers the sled mount for side impact tests based on ADAC regulations.