Normally, I wouldn’t be writing about a car seat for for TechCrunch but as I’ve been in the market for such an item lately (and have been hit up for all things baby tech as my due date nears) the high-tech Cybex Sirona M with SensorSafe 2.0 stood out.
Cybex is manufactured in Germany and is a mostly European brand that’s gaining momentum in the U.S. market. Its newest carseat in the family (the aforementioned Sirona M) is made to give parents and caregivers peace of mind using technology.
Some of the techy features include Bluetooth monitoring and an app to alert parents when a caregiver may have left the kid in the car, the kid has unbuckled their seatbelt while the car is moving or if their baby is in danger of overheating.
Parents will get an alert in the form of a chime though an installed vehicle receiver if something is wrong while driving — like your child unbuckles their clip. Should the parent not be with the child, they will be sent an alert via the app. So, for example, if someone watching their kid forgets the kid in the car for even a few minutes, the designated emergency contact (usually the primary caregiver) will be alerted on the app and given GPS coordinates to locate the vehicle.
The car seat also monitors vehicle temperature so it can tell parents if their child is in danger of overheating and possibly dying due to a hot car.
Other features include:
• Adjustable side-impact protection that can pop back into the seat when more room is needed in the back seat.
• Magnetic belt holders for easy entry and exit from the seat
• Rear-facing installation from 5 to 40 pounds, or forward facing from 22 to 65 pounds.
• Energy absorbing shell to help reduce forces felt by the baby in a collision
• 12-position, height-adjustable headrest with an integrated no-rethread harness for protection that grows with your child
• Cozy harness pads with anti-slip backing and comfort padded buckle cover
• Comes with a removable newborn insert
• Installs using LATCH or the vehicle seat belt for a safe and secure connection to the vehicle seat
This car seat does not connect to any travel systems. For those not in the loop (I was not until recently), a travel system would be a car seat able to attach to a stroller and given the ability to transport baby from stroller to car and vice versa.
I did not end up getting the Cybex Sirona M. Instead, I went with the Uppababy Mesa car seat for both the design features and ability to easily attach to the Uppababy Vista stroller. However, when I asked Cybex’s VP of product during a recent demo of the Sirona M about incorporating SensorSafe tech into other car seat models with travel system capabilities in the future, he smiled and hinted that could be the case.
The Sirona M can hold kids up to 65 pounds (approximately four years old), is priced at $330 and is available online in several retail outlets, including Amazon and buybuy Baby, starting today.
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