Re-thinking the Integrated Child Seat - Designing experiences for future users and usage of Volvo Cars

"The automotive industry will change more in the next five years than prior 50", says General Motors’ president in June 2016. This depends on fast technology development and may be due to the fact that the world is facing a new demanding, technology-raised demographic cohort who now reach their adulthood – the Millennials. It is important for manufacturers and product developers to understand the Millennials’ needs because when this generation fully enters into the car-buying market, their expectations for the experience will be quite different than that of previous generations. This Master Thesis, conducted by two Industrial Design Engineering students at Chalmers University of Technology, has during the spring of 2017 (20 weeks, 30ECTS) been produced in cooperation with Volvo Cars. Volvo Cars vision for 2020 is that no one should be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car. Within the important words no one, the focus for this thesis has been the offspring of Millennials. The mission was to investigate and further develop Volvo's integrated booster cushion and develop a concept for the rear seat that includes an inflatable material intended for the future in order to increase the usage and improve child safety in cars. In order to get a better understanding on the subject, a literature study was conducted where different reports, research papers and internet articles were examined and compiled. It was found that right attitude, handling and safety approach in the use of an integrated booster cushion has a positive impact on child safety in cars. In order to improve the integrated booster cushion it should be adapted for children, for the audience and for future travelling. An empirical study was performed to investigate the users and usage and around 150 persons were participating in speed interviews, an online survey, observations and various focus groups consisting of parents, children and young adults. The users were divided into four different user groups with individual needs. This formed the basis for the idea generation which was done in collaboration with different focus groups. 130 ideas were generated and later evaluated, refined, merged, combined and finally one concept remained – the Integrated Child Seat Concept (ICSC). This concept was considered the most suitable one for solving the problems found. The ICSC is a dynamic seat intended for the outer rear seats in future Volvo cars and is designed for the four target groups. The construction includes drop stich inflatable material and is adjustable in order to be adopted for children's (approx. 4-10 years old) anthropometry and to obtain a good belt geometry for them. In addition there is a portable foot support to adopt it further. The seat has got side supports and can be tilted for more comfortable postures. The seat is visually similar to an original seat, which hopefully leads to the children having a more positive attitude towards the product and using it to a greater extent and as long as recommended. The solution is technology driven and the installation takes place automatically, in only one right way, which means that it will be liked, trusted and attractive for the technology raised cohort. Furthermore, there is less room for discussion between children and adults about whether or not to use a boosting solution. The ICSC is adopted for the future since it is flexible and can be used by a diversity of passengers. It is easy to use and it can be used in the Volvo car’s all application areas. The seat will not affect the regular seat and thus not the side users but rather adds something extra by the add-ons. These adds additional luxury value to all users which makes the solution more popular and liked in a long term perspective and hopefully some people choose the solution even if there is no explicit need for it. Share will be the new own for the future and services such as car pools will understand the importance and benefits of this solution and consequently it will be more available and hopefully NO ONE will be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car in the future.