Jané Group Crash Test Research & Development Center
All Jané Concord car seats were created in our Crash Test Research & Development Center, the only private crash tunnel in Spain for child safety research, and one of the most advanced of its kind worldwide. The Laboratory is located at the Jané head office facilities, next to the Group’s Design and Research offices.
In addition to research, it promotes training, with lectures, demonstrations and specific classes, and education, through the Early Childhood Education Program, “Jané Educa”. (Link)
Over 20 years of
testing and research
The Jané Group Crash Test Research & Development Center was built in 2003 when, our of our commitment to child safety, we decided to create our own crash test laboratory where we could test our car seats and, among other goals, achieve a level of safety even higher than the legal requirements. A space for research, to develop and improve our products, predict future needs and improvements, and analyse and test our child restraint systems.
It was one of the first specific child safety centres created in Europe, and one of the few private centres dedicated exclusively to the investigation of accidents involving children on the road.
Shock catapult
The simulator is designed to simulate crashes in a strictly regulated way, in exactly the same and repeated manner for each of its crash configurations. This simulator has been approved by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, which means that it accurately reproduces the crashes described in the European Regulation, in each different setup, Front, Rear or Side.
Normally these laboratories are set up to simulate car crashes, and can also test child seats, since the tests for cars and car seats are very similar, and the sophisticated facilities are practically the same as those needed to test a child restraint system.
However, the Jané Laboratory is a specific testing laboratory for child safety.
Our crash test
dummy family
In crash tests, both in for adult and child car safety, we use highly bio-realistic dummies in place of human passengers. These dummies are the size and weight of “real” babies and children. To make the crash tests as realistic as possible, the dummies must meet two basic criteria:
- Biofidelity: As close in size and weight as possible to the children they represent.
- Anthropomorphism: Their movements and reactions should be as similar as possible to those of a real child.
At the Jané laboratory we have 6 P Series dummies (the first European dummies regulated under the EU Regulation ECE R44 and 6 Q Series dummies as per European Regulation ECE R129 (popularly known as iSize).
Children grow very quickly and undergo rapid morphological changes. In their first 10 years, they grow from 40 cm in height to 150 cm. In just 10 years! At our laboratory we have the whole family. From the newborn, a 9-month-old baby, to a 1-year-old, an 18-month-old, a 3-year-old, a 6-year-old and finally a 12-year-old.
32 sensors
Unlike the P series dummies, which had 6 sensors inside to measure the impact of the crash on internal organs (mainly the chest and head), the new Q series dummies incorporate more than 30 sensors with different functions to measure the damage caused by each impact. These sensors are distributed over almost the entire body (head, neck, thorax, pelvis and abdomen), and allow us to measure damage, for example, in the event of whiplash, seat belt tension on the chest, side impacts, vertical displacement or abdominal pressure.
We go beyond regulations
We never tire of repeating this, but our self-imposed safety standards mean that we always strive to go beyond legal requirements. The Q series dummies at our research centre goes far beyond the EU minimum safety test requirements for child restraint systems. After each crash is performed, accurate readings are taken from each of the sensors which, together with the visual inspection and readings from the high-speed cameras (over a thousand images per second), help us to improve our products.
Thanks to this centre and our ongoing research, we have been able to develop innovative and unique products and achieve the highest possible evaluations.
