In January 2020 Maxi-Cosi launches the e-Safety seat cushion on the market. Luna Journal spoke to Moktar Malyar, Product Manager at Dorel, about how the smart security tool works and how the company plans to protect personal data.

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What’s with the smart security tool?

Moktar Malyar, Product Manager at Dorel: Parents always leave their child unintentionally alone in the car on a warm summer’s day. This can have serious consequences. Even at a temperature of only 20 degrees outside the car, it can be dangerous for the child in the car. Especially in the first 10 minutes, the temperatures in the car rise very quickly. In this short time, the temperature rises by an average of 50 percent. With our new crash safety solution, we want to prevent children from being endangered.

What is the basic idea behind it?

Our Maxi-Cosi e-Safety smart cushion is designed and tested to prevent children being left in the car unintentionally. With pro-active support to lower human error, we improve the child’s wellbeing and provide parents peace of mind.

What material is the e-Safety seat cushion made of?

The thermo-regulated seat cushion is designed with breathable 3D mesh fabric on top and extra padding for addition comfort inside. The outside of the seat cushion is made of 80% polyester and 20% viscose. The filling is 100% polyurethane with an additional water-resistant treatment to withstand spills and splashes. Our e-Safety smart cushion can be used daily for multiple years and is machine washable for easy cleaning.

How does the new safety system work?

It contains of four connected components; the sensor pad, e-Safety application, cloud platform and telecom service. The sensor pad is connected with the e-Safety application via Bluetooth Low Energy. If the sensor pad detects pressure and the mobile phone is going out of Bluetooth reach, the first alarm is activated. In case of no response to the alarm within 60 seconds, the application detects the accurate GPS location and sends it to the cloud platform. The cloud platform transforms this information into a SMS text message and shares it via the telecom service with up to two contacts.

How do you prevent a short circuit of the electronic pressure sensors?

The system is protected to prevent a short circuit of the electronic parts by different mechanisms. The electronic pressure sensors and seat cushion are waterproof to withstand moisture, spills and splashes. In addition to this, electronic parts are EMS protected which avoid static electricity to damage the circuit which can cause abnormal usage. If anything abnormal in the system occurs it will automatically shut down and the application will receive an error notification. The electronic parts are equipped with the standard coin battery so no risk for harmful impact and easy to access for replacement.

How does the system know if the child is in the child seat

The Maxi-Cosi smart cushion has pressure sensors to detect the presence of the child. If the child sits on the sensor pad the controller will be activated. The controller sends the information via Bluetooth Low Energy to the connected smartphone with the e-Safety application.

Is the e-Safety seat cushion compatible with all child seats?

The e-Safety seat cushion is designed and tested to fit most Maxi-Cosi car seats. To have the best comfort for the child and product convenience for the parent.

For which devices is the app suitable for?

The Maxi-Cosi e-Safety application is compatible with all smartphones with at least Android 5.0 and iOS 10.0 operating systems. We are checking the possibilities to use the application on smartwatches.

What can happen if the app crashes or the phone goes off?

Before each travel with Maxi-Cosi e-Safety we recommend parents to check the application connection and battery level of the smartphone. In the lock screen of the smartphone the user could monitor the battery level of the smartphone and you will receive a notification if the smartphone and smart cushion are connected. If two or more smartphones are paired to the same smart cushion and within reach, the smart cushion will reconnect to the alternative phone if the effectively connected smartphone is abandoned. Maxi-Cosi e-Safety is designed to support but not to replace the monitoring of a parent.

How do you guarantee your customers the security of their data?

Personal data is protected and stored in our own back-end cloud which complies with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This information is only used for functional purposes of the product. Users have the ability to delete the account in the settings. If so, all data and information will be erased from our back-end cloud.

To what extent do you plan to further expand the area of smart security tools in the future?

At Maxi-Cosi we care about the wellbeing of the child and parents. To improve the product experience and usage of our products, we are working on smart safety, smart comfort and ease of use solutions. There are more and more smart techniques available in the juvenile market.

 

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Image: Dorel

//JP