Precious Cargo: The Evolution of the Child Car Seat

Nowadays, child protection features are a main selling point for many vehicles such as family SUVs. However, this wasn't always the case. Critiquing these early attempts to protect and entertain children in the backseat of cars could give insight to design pitfalls only visible in the back mirror of history.

Children usually roamed free in moving vehicles in the early years of the automobile travel. Restraints, if any, were for the convenience of the parent. This child car seat from around 1930 kept the child seated and within view of mother or father. It offered little protection during an accident.

Even after child safety seats became available in the late 1960s, few parents used them—or they used them incorrectly. But child passenger laws – passed in every state between 1978 and 1985 – now require kids to ride in child seats that meet federal safety standards.

The child in this car seat has his own steering wheel to occupy his time while on the road. This unanchored car seat from the early 1960s, however, offered little protection in case of an accident.

Both of these car seats' main jobs seem to be to restrain child passengers. The metal bars and thin straps do their best in this regard, focusing on restraining the lower body. However, with seatbelts not being mandatory in vehicle manufacturing until the late 60s, there is not much being done to prevent a child from jolting forward in an accident.

There is one interesting design aspect that may be worth emulating from these photos. The use of a steering wheel as an activity in the second photo is interesting as it is both an activity and a way for the child to role-play as the driver. This could've given a sense of agency to the child, reducing frustration with lack of knowledge on the destination and overall trip.

While designing for children in the backseat, I must consider material comfort, the balance between restraining elements and freedom of movement, and ways to induce a sense of agency to prevent frustration.

References

The Staff of the Henry Ford Museum. 2025. Henry Ford Museum. "Children's Car Seats". https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/expert-sets/101263/

All original works in this article were done without the assistance of AI tools.