Volvo Develops Inflatable Car Seat

Ultra-light prototype could be answer to parents prayers

Properly installing a bulky, awkward car seat is one of the most essential -- and frustrating -- skills parents must master. Volvo has developed a better way: an inflatable, portable, ultra-light car seat.

Volvo constructed the seats from a drop-stitch fabric developed specifically to be inflated to very high pressures, according to Gizmodo. With the press of a button, a built-in silent pump unfurls the tough fabric into a car seat. To deflate, parents just press the same button, which shrinks it down to an easy-to-store eleven-pound piece of material. The deflated seat can easily fit in a backpack or store flat in the car.

Unfortunately, the seat is only a prototype dreamed up by Volvo's research team, and the Scandinavian automaker doesn't currently have plans to make the seat commercially available.

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