Video: Dorel Air Protect keeps your blow-up children safe

It might look like your run-of-the-mill car seat, but Dorel's Air Protect comes with an extra dose of parental paranoia, or as they call it, side impact protection. Sure, you could protect your child by not driving like a reckless maniac, but where's the techno-loving fun in that? You're far better off strapping junior into a pre-inflated airbag, while disregarding the fact your giant SUV is killing the world he is supposed to grow, live and love in. Now that we've guilt-tripped you into recycling your soda cans, how about a self-serving video of the crash test after the break?

[YLA G @ Jul 1st 2009 5:57AM]

ohhh cute baby... lol

[Neil @ Jul 1st 2009 6:25AM]

Crazy mothers and their overprotective tendencies. They're all like lead based this, SIDS that...

[ChrisM @ Jul 1st 2009 11:45AM]

Crazy environmentalists and their overprotective tendencies. They're all like SUV this, carbon offset that... by strict environmentalist definitions, we're all killing the earth by simply breathing.

[rob964 @ Jul 1st 2009 6:31AM]

Boy 'o boy. When I was a lad back in the day, we didn't have all this new tech to keep us safe in a car. if I was involved in a side impact, I got mashed up big time but, it didn't do me any harm though.
No wonder todays society is the way it is.

[Neil @ Jul 1st 2009 6:35AM]

What we need is some good old natural selection.

[Bad Beaver @ Jul 1st 2009 6:41AM]

Yeah, I truly wonder how we all survived without bicycle-helmets and GPS surveillance either. We're raising a world full of pampered wimps that will succumb like flies to next bigger challenge the world throws at mankind. There's a word for that, it's "degeneration".

[Neil @ Jul 1st 2009 6:55AM]

"There are many things that we can point to that proof that the human being is not smart. The helmet is my personal favorite. The fact that we had to invent the helmet. Now why did we invent the helmet? Well, because we were participating in many activities that were cracking our heads. We looked at the situation. We chose not to avoid these activities, but to just make little plastic hats so that we can continue our head-cracking lifestyles." - Jerry Seinfeld

[Jamie Nelson @ Jul 1st 2009 8:51AM]

Story time. When I was like 3, I busted out a couple of my dad's teeth with a beer bottle that was sitting on a table. Fast forward and I listen to my Dad and uncle tell about an ALMOST second incident..... "We were driving in the car and we look in the mirror and you were standing in the back seat with a beer bottle in your hand and it was poised to strike!"

Let that one soak in for a minute and you will see the extreme cultural shift from 20 yrs ago to today.

I do have to say, the airbag idea is kinda stupid, but DAMN why didn't I think of that.

[Brian @ Jul 1st 2009 11:16AM]

What you fail to realize is that, although you survived, there are thousands, if not millions, of other children that did not. The comments here paint a portrait of the rampant narcissism that exists in the US. That's certainly a bigger problem than caring about the safety of your child.

There are tens of thousands of children born each year with low muscle tone and atlanto-axial instability. Currently, most car seats would not protect those children in a side impact. Also, take look sometime at all the car seats placed next to the door instead of in the center. Many of those are even in cars with rear side airbags, which is a huge no-no. I realize it may be inconvenient for people to put the car seat in the center, but is that more important than your child's safety?

I have no idea if this particular car seat actually works as advertised, but it's a step in the right direction. If natural selection is your thing, there are plenty of tribes in the world you can join with your family. Maybe your kid will die of a malaria or by mauled by a chimp, but hey, it's natural selection so it's ok.

[Bad Beaver @ Jul 1st 2009 12:14PM]

Brian, you and I and the rest of us are here today because our ancestors managed for generation upon generation not to get mauled by a chimp, and their bodies successfully fought all the pathogens the chimps spewed at them too. There's a certain amount of fitness involved in that. Now I'm not saying that you should stop vaccinating or wantonly expose your offspring to needless danger (which is what people who don't keep their eyes on the road do, btw), but too much protection, and especially the feeling of being protected from everything (which is what is being sold here), leads to even more people being unfit and stupid. At some point things get dysfunctional. There's no need to get emotional about all the poor kids who don't make it, as sad as it is, because that just is how the world works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4p0Rx048-c

[Bad Beaver @ Jul 1st 2009 6:36AM]

The "We're busy as moms"-lady should save the money on the mesmerizing innovation of a CUSHION for a better nose job next time around, learn to put the Blackberry down and concentrate on the freakin' road. The last part is apparently incredibly difficult for driving moms because they seemingly have to tend to every grunt and snort of their sprog in the back seat as seemingly chances must be much higher that baby spontaneously disintegrates while tied up back there than being mashed to mousse by the truck mommy just didn't happen to notice with her head in the wrong direction 50% of the time.

I am also awestruck by their super-high-tech impact simulation. That was really impressive. In the 1950s.

Voted worst piece of emotionally exploitive ad-drivel of the week.

[Colin @ Jul 1st 2009 7:35AM]

I like you

[Bad Beaver @ Jul 1st 2009 7:39AM]

I'm here all week.

[Steven @ Jul 1st 2009 8:24AM]

Look at the size of that boy's heed. I'm not kidding, it's like an orange on a toothpick. That's a huge noggin. That's a virtual planetoid. Has it's own weather system.

[Bad Beaver @ Jul 1st 2009 10:04AM]

More melon, more splash.

[dudi @ Jul 1st 2009 8:34AM]

Look! They use Windows Media Player!

[roosta.6 @ Jul 1st 2009 8:38AM]

"side impact crashes are particularly dangerous, infact 1 out of 3 child fatalities are from side impact crashes".
wow, so 2 thirds of child fatalities ARENT from side impact crashes!? does that mean they are from the other 2 sides the car can be hit from!? WTF do we need all this side impact protection from then if front and rear shunts are more dangerous?? -_-
seriously, these designers should stop looking at spinal boards and space shuttle seats for inspiration. can the kid even move in that thing? do they have plans to add a neck brace?

if parents are worried about the amount of material between their kid and the other car when they all drive SUVs, humvees and tanks they got real security issues. maybe put your kid on a bus instead? a train? maybe tell them to get off their oversized ass and walk?

[Pom @ Jul 1st 2009 12:33PM]

In test, the seats do a pretty good job against rear impacts, but the majority of severe injury occurs during head-on crashes (higher speeds and neck-trama). That is why they(EU and US Gov) are considering that all child seats face back until the age of 4. This would be difficult because the lack of room between the front and back seats.

I think this is a good idea. Hopefully the data shows that it really does save lives and moves the technology forward until we have that emergency foam like in Demo Man. In the mean time I'll keep my 10 month old in the middle seat of my 9-year-old 4-banger Protege.

[joseph @ Jul 1st 2009 7:05PM]

if at all possible, the safest place for a child seat is in the back seat, middle position.
As someone else mentioned, 1 out of 3 impacts are side?! wow, that means one 1 of 3 are frontal, and 2 of 3 are rear. shocking!

[Sid @ Jul 1st 2009 8:49AM]

That kid dummy is just creepy.

[kash @ Jul 1st 2009 9:19AM]

Engadget's become pretty cynical... The last couple weeks of articles I were kinda preachy.

[fluxusfuxus @ Jul 1st 2009 9:36AM]

Why is Lindsy Lohan's mom hurting more children?

[itlnstln @ Jul 1st 2009 10:28AM]

Blow-up kids? Is that what you get when you have sex with a blow-up doll? I didn't know blow-up dolls got pregnant. I better hope I don't get any child-support requests anytime soon. :(

[SEVENim @ Jul 1st 2009 11:06AM]

i somehow see john mccain's face in that testbabydummy

[eattrn @ Jul 1st 2009 11:30AM]

Who has blow up kids or girlfriends since the release of the real doll?

[sloap @ Jul 1st 2009 12:03PM]

Wow...this is how low engadget has sunk that you're criticizing a safer carseat?! What's next, cynically whining about those pesky stop signs and stop lights?

[Christy @ Jul 16th 2009 12:15PM]

Engadget needs to up the ante on their writing staff if this is any representation. If you want to complain about SUVs and paranoia (now it's paranoia to put your child in a safe carseat?!), at least find an argument that makes sense. Fatalities are more likely when people driving smaller cars are hit by SUVs. In other words (for those who need the extra help), not only are the victims not "killing the world" but they aren't necessarily "driving recklessly," either. I have no idea where the "blow-up" children come into play. I guess your wit goes right over my head...