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NCT Number: NCT06866171

Swivel Convertible Child Safety Seat to Improve Usage

Child car safety seats (or "car seats") are an important tool to keep children safe in motor vehicle crashes, but are often misused by parents and caregivers. The installation of car seats can be time consuming and confusing. A new type of swivel car seat is being developed to potentially alleviate some of the typical frustrations that might lead to car seat misuse, specifically the visibility and usage of the top tether feature. This study aims to evaluate the new car seat product and determine whether the new design results in fewer installation errors compared to a traditional car seat.

Primary objective: To compare the number of top tether installation errors produced with a production-ready prototype swivel child safety seat vs. a traditional (control) seat.

Secondary objective: To assess self-reported preference and opinions on the swivel child safety seat design.

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Key information

Conditions

Motor Vehicle Injury

Age range

18 year–65 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Observational

Primary location

About this study

Background: A preliminary Phase I study has already been conducted, in which volunteer focus groups provided qualitative feedback on a new prototype design. For this Phase II study, the revised prototype will be quantitatively and qualitatively evaluated by a larger sample of volunteers. Volunteer adult participants will be asked to complete two car seat installations: one with the new swivel prototype, and one with a traditional control car seat. Basic instruction manuals will be provided. The types and frequency of installation errors for each car seat will be quantified, and qualitative feedback on the product designs will be collected via survey.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Between the ages of 18 and 65
  • Care provider to a child who is up to 4 years of age
  • Have installed a child safety seat in the last 2 years
  • Able to lift and install a child safety seat into a vehicle
  • English speaking.

Exclusion criteria

  • Not meeting any of the above

Treatment and study plan

Modular child restraint

Other

The participant will be asked to install two different child safety seats into a vehicle, presented to the participant one at a time (random order). The researcher will explain that the participant should install each seat to the best of his/her ability and may take as long as needed. When each installation is completed, the participant will be led away from the vehicle while their work is evaluated by a study-team approved researcher who is a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST). A data collection form will be used to document any installation errors. Following the installations, participants will complete a short survey with open-ended queries to describe facilitators or barriers they experienced while installing the seats, as well as what they liked or did not like about each seat. They will use a Likert scale to rate their self-efficacy in installing the seats, if they believed they were installed correctly, general ease-of-use, and which seat they preferred.

Primary outcomes

  1. Correct use of top tether, prototype seat

    Time frame: 1 study visit, an average of 30 minutes

    Number of participants who correctly install the top tether in the prototype swivel seat

  2. Correct use of top tether, traditional seat

    Time frame: 1 study visit, an average of 30 minutes

    Number of participants who correctly install the top tether in the traditional seat

Secondary outcomes

  1. Correct overall installation, prototype seat

    Time frame: 1 study visit, an average of 30 minutes

    Number of participants who correctly install the prototype swivel child seat, considering all types of possible errors

  2. Correct overall installation, traditional seat

    Time frame: 1 study visit, an average of 30 minutes

    Number of participants who correctly install the traditional child seat, considering all types of possible errors

  3. Opinion on modular child seat design and instructions

    Time frame: 1 study visit, an average of 30 minutes

    Number of participants who rate the usability of the prototype swivel seat at least as high or higher than the traditional seat

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Julie Mansfield, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

614-366-2101

Sara Seifert

CONTACT

[email protected]

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Minnesota HealthSolutions

Industry

Registry information

Official study title

Phase II - Modular Convertible Child Safety Seat to Improve Usage

Important dates

Study start
2025
Primary completion
2026
Study completion
2026
First posted
Mar 10, 2025
Registry last updated
Sep 29, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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