VEHICLE SAFETY: VOLKSWAGEN MALAYSIA CONTRIBUTES 200 CHILD CAR SEATS FOR TRAINING

Volkswagen Malaysia is collaborating with the Association of Registered Childcare Providers Malaysia (PPBM) to raise awareness on child passenger safety. Launched December last year, the campaign aims to educate approximately 28,000 parents on the importance of using proper child car seats.

PRESS RELEASE
VOLKSWAGEN MALAYSIA CONTRIBUTES 200 CHILD CAR SEATS FOR TRAINING

KUALA LUMPUR, 17 JUNE 2015 – Volkswagen is collaborating with the Association of Registered Childcare Providers Malaysia (PPBM) to raise awareness on child passenger safety. Launched December last year, the campaign aims to educate approximately 28,000 parents on the importance of using proper child car seats.


“As a responsible automaker, we believe in the importance of cultivating children’s safety in cars. Our goal is to change mind-sets and increase awareness about child passenger safety. Hence, our collaboration with PPBM which involves the roll out of a Child Passenger Safety (CPS) training module. We are also pleased to contribute 200 Volkswagen child seats for educational purposes and 10,000 copies of the A-Z of road safety flash cards to be given to all participants,” said Puan Sharifah Salmah Syed Harun, Director of Human Resource, Volkswagen Malaysia.

The CPS workshops which will be conducted nationwide for 280 childcare centres till August 2015, includes hands-on assistance with proper use of child restraint systems and safety belts. To date, 100 child safety seats have been distributed to several state associations of PPBM’s network to assist with their trainings.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of the recent fatal accidents involving infants in which no child safety seat was in use. Statistics have shown that child seats reduce the risk of death by 71% for infants and 54% for children between the ages of one and five. This also fortifies our intention of providing safety features in our fleet of cars such as the ISOFIX and many more,” Sharifah added.

One of the most important safety feature for children in a vehicle is the ISOFIX system. ISOFIX, found in all Volkswagen models are anchorage points which allow two ISOFIX-compatible seats to be secured to the rear seat. The ISOFIX was first introduced in 1997 as a joint development between Volkswagen and child safety seat maker Britax-Roemer. Beginning January 1 this year, all car manufacturers in Malaysia would be required to provide ISOFIX capabilities in new vehicles.

The enforcement of car seats for carrying babies and children in vehicles is well received by the government. According to Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi, parents need to be aware of child safety in vehicles, as statistics in 2013 showed that of 53 children and babies involved in accidents, 31 had died.