Testing The Hypothesis, Part 1

Seat belts for passengers who want to lay down.

• Opportunity: For many people, sitting down for too long becomes uncomfortable, especially in a car, where the seats tend to not adjust for various postures. Many may want to lie down but refrain from doing so because it is unsafe in the even of a crash. 
• Who: People who ride as a passenger of a car frequently, especially on longer trips.
• What: Sitting for a long time in a car can be uncomfortable for some people and they may want to lay down but cannot do so safely.
• Why: Lying down in a car is hard to do comfortably while wearing a seat-belt, because they are made to harness a sitting person, and do not adjust. Without a seat-belt, lying down is very risky and extremely dangerous in the event of a car accident.

• Testing the who: The who is not just passengers of a car who cannot sit upright comfortably, but it is anyone who is a passenger who wants to lie down in a car safely. While everyone can be a potential user, its is fairly niche in terms of who will actually use the product. The driver of the car of course cannot, meaning it only pertains to passengers. Usually the front seat passenger chair can recline and adhere to the needs of the prototypical customer to relative satisfaction. Therefore, the idea of a seat-belt that allows you to lie down is for the back seat of a car that has a row of seats.
• Testing the what: Sitting for a long time can eventually become uncomfortable for anybody. Car seats today, especially the back row of a car if there is one, are not usually adjustable, and can be agonizing for people with poor posture, blood circulation problems, and even nerve issues. All of these can lead to pain from sitting. Sitting is also proven to be unhealthy,if done for long periods of time without a break, as shown in studies such as this one done concerning adults over the age of 45.
  http://annals.org/aim/article/2653704/patterns-sedentary-behavior-mortality-u-s-middle-aged-older-adults
• Testing the why: There are currently no widely available vehicles that have adjustable seat-belts for lying down. While making them adjustable could be a liability issue due to it not being within the standards set by safety regulations, it is more unsafe for an uncomfortable passenger to resort to taking it off in order to lie down. The issue for the passengers is the decision to remain uncomfortable, or take a risk. While an accident is unlikely, it is unexpected and deadly if the person is not harnessed properly. It is also illegal in most states now for back-seat passengers to not be wearing a seat-belt. 

Interviews:

1. I interviewed a 56 year old father of 2 teenagers. He notices that on occasion, when traveling a long distance in their car, his teenage sons have a tendency to unbuckle their seat-belts in order to lie down on the back row passenger seats to sleep. As parents, he and his wife find this unsafe, and often argue about how to handle the situation. If they force their children to keep their seat-belts on, the children complain that it is uncomfortable. His wife is both concerned about safety on the highway, and the fact that it is illegal to not wear a safety-belt. He notices it is only a problem with his back seat passengers, as the front seat passengers can recline the seat back easily. This clearly defines that the problem is for back seat passengers.
   
2. In this interview, I spoke to a young adult, 20 years old, who travels from his home in Miami, to school at UF in Gainesville. He travels as a passenger, and his older brother drives the car.
   He says that he can sit comfortably in the front passenger seat, but that when he wants to take a nap on the long road trip, he has to move to the backseat because he is not able to sleep unless he is lying down. He also says he doesn't care too much about not wearing a seat-belt being illegal, but that he does worry about the possibility of a car accident. He has tried to lie down in the backseat while wearing a standard seat-belt, but the strap doesn't adjust properly and the buckle is difficult to avoid when lying down.
   
3. My third interview was with my grandpa, who is 82. He doesn't drive much himself anymore, but says he misses the days when he could sit comfortably in a car and go on a trip. When I explained my idea to him, he thought that it was somewhat ridiculous, because their would be too many conflicts with regulation and the standard seat-belt design that has already been approved for many years. This was something that I never really thought about, and has made me consider the use of seat-belt attachments rather then a replacement.
   
4. My next interviewee is a 50 year old mother of 2 children. She and her family travel a lot by car, because her son has autism and they can't have him sit comfortably on a plane for a long time. Her son and daughter also tend to get on each others nerves when they are too close to each other, so they both need a row of the back seats to themselves, which is why they drive a full-size SUV. While driving, her son also likes to take of his seat-belt, and can become agitated when he has to sit for such a long time. She says she is not sure whether my idea would be a solution, but it would definitely be worth a try.
   
5. In my last interview, I spoke with a 10 year old boy. He told me that when his family travels, he likes to lie down in the back seat of their car and play on his Nintendo DS, but that his mom always yells at him to keep his seat-belt on. When he tries to lie down and wear a seat-belt, the buckle stabs him in the ribs and the belt awkwardly wraps around his neck and under his arm, making it very annoying for him. He is also very energetic and doesn't like to be sitting down for such a long time. It makes him restless, so sometimes he'll stand up in the back of the car and move around to not feel so confined. 

• Given the interviews, what do I know about my opportunity that I didn't know before?
• The interviews were a great way to confirm that, while not all people could see a use for my idea, there are those that may find it a lifesaver. I learned that I would have to look into the regulations behind seat-belts in cars, something I hadn't really thought of before. I had originally thought of my idea to be a replacement of the standard seat-belt, that could be used both sitting up and lying down. Now I am also considering a seat-belt attachment that utilizes the features of the standard belt, but in a more comfortable way that enables a horizontal harness.
• I also learned that as a back-seat passenger, many tend to have a false sense of security, whether they know it or not, and will take of their seat-belt to lie down, not considering or disregarding the possibility of a car accident. If an accident were to occur, not wearing a seat-belt reduces chance of survival by nearly 10%, and lying down without a seat-belt, while there are no statistics, is certainly life-threatening. It is also proven that reclining in the front passenger seat can even prove to be more dangerous, as the car is designed and crash tested with upright passengers, harnessed properly by the standard seat-belt.
• My interviews also confirmed my belief that the use of a special harness to lie down as a back seat passenger, appeals to a wide variety of people of different ages and body types. I also learned that, while many people do travel in smaller vehicles, most of those who travel with families and who have passengers that intend on lying down, drive a larger vehicle.