Making outings with children more fun and convenient
Child Fun Cabin

Automotive cabin that is useful for all family members

OshinoIt was inspired by a comment from an employee with a newborn child, who reported numerous difficulties with his car while caring for the child. This prompted us to propose an automotive cabin that would be more useful for everyone, from children to adults. The project started with an exchange of opinions among employees who had some experience raising children and consideration of features that could solve their difficulties.
The Child Fun Cabin was based on the outlook of those raising children, but we have realized an automotive cabin with 10 new features that can be expanded as the children grow and that delight adults, too.

OshinoMany people have commented in particular on the difficulty of changing diapers in a vehicle. Currently, the parent stands outside the vehicle, changing the diaper while the baby lies on a seat or in the luggage compartment. Many people described how difficult this is on rainy days, when they can’t actually stand outside in the rain—at the same time, there is no room to change the diaper in the rear seat. In response, we developed a childcare space created using a passenger seat with a backrest that folds back and a seat that lifts to create a flat table, allowing the parent to sit on the passenger seat and change the diaper. It’s a simple idea based on a comment from an actual parent who needed such a feature.

OshinoAnother concern was wait times in a vehicle. People said their children were bored during the time spent waiting, which is surprisingly common before lessons or medical checkups. As a solution to the concern, we installed folding tables on the rear seats for notebooks or school laptops. We also designed the rear seats to have a height adjustment mechanism that allows even small children to use the tables in comfort while seated. This helps children spend wait times on a wide range of activities like drawing, homework, or light meals.
Someone else noted that small children are readily bored on drives because they can’t see much scenery out of the windows. In response, we made it possible to raise seat heights to give them a better view of the scenery.

OshinoAnother recommended feature is the armrests on both sides of the rear seats. Usually, the rear seats of a compact car has just one armrest, positioned in the middle. Installing armrests on both sides of the seats makes it easier for nursing mothers to hold their babies. The armrests rotate to change width and to provide a stable resting space for elbows. This allows more comfortable postures when using a smartphone or reading a book.
We also designed sliding armrests on the center console between the driver and passenger seats. This is a convenient feature that makes it easier to hand snacks or beverages to children in the rear seats. In addition, the passenger and rear seats can be made flat to create a wide space in which children can play or adults can relax. The front seats have refreshing massage features. These are just some of the diverse features designed to satisfy compact car users.

Oshino We tried to make it possible for passengers to get the most out of the automotive cabin through numerous seat arrangements, including fully flat seating. But it was a challenge to find the optimal balance between convenience and safety or comfort while driving. It took repeated trial and error.
While this automotive cabin primarily envisions the needs of families with children, we tried to make it a useful space for everyone, from children to adults. For this reason, we repeatedly verified and improved the features while collecting the views of employee family members, especially children.

OshinoThe Child Fun Cabin is an automotive cabin equipped with features to support users to address various challenges they experience in the cabins of today’s compact cars and other vehicles. Our goal is to deliver an automotive cabin that allows all family members, from children to adults, to enjoy spending time in the cabin, through further development of these diverse features to enable them to be implemented in commercially available vehicles at the earliest possible date.