Volkswagen champions child safety

A child tries a Volkswagen safety seat. Photos provided to China Daily

Volkswagen China continues to raise awareness of safety among Chinese parents after it held a child seat program with the China Women's Development Foundation in Beijing on May 22.

As a part of the program, the group and its joint ventures, FAW-VW and Shanghai VW, donated 320 child safety seats to new mothers and mothers-to-be in the capital through kindergartens and maternal and child care service centers.

"We take it as our responsibility to promote the importance of safety seats and help ensure children's safety in cars," said Yang Meihong, vice-president of Volkswagen China.

Yang said the group planned to hold similar programs in 17 cities across the country this year.

The initiative is a part of a charity program that the German automaker started at the Guangzhou Auto Show in 2013.

Official statistics show more than 18,500 people under the age of 14 die in car accidents in China every year.

The top reason for the deaths is the infrequent use of car seats, according to the road safety research center at the Ministry of Public Security.

A researcher at the center said only 0.04 percent of private cars use car seats for kids, which is far lower than the figure in Europe and the US.

A 2013 survey by the China Automotive Technology & Research Center revealed that 65 percent of respondents prefer to hold their children on their laps while sitting in the front of the car and nearly 33 percent said they leave their children in the back without safety seats.