Inside a Jupiter warehouse, production and testing is in full swing on seatbelts.
"We manufacture direct fit and after-market seatbelts for buses, commercial vehicles, cars," said Carloa Portilla, Sales Manager for Seatbelt Solutions.
But it's seatbelts for school buses that has Portilla and his team gearing up for what they hope will be a string of new business.
"It's always been a push for lap belts, lap belts, lap belts. Now all of a sudden it's a 3-point belt," he said.
Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) publicly endorsed lap and shoulder belts be equipped on school buses across the country.
Crashes like the one in 2012 that killed 9-year old St. Lucie County student, Aaron Beauchamp, helped inspire the push. Simulation video re-created from the crash by leading safety experts showed the dramatic difference between student strapped in wearing both lap and shoulder belts versus students wearing lap belts only.
See that video and other findings from the crash by watching our original report, Lessons from Aaron.
"They're seeing after these accidents when kids are moving around flying out of the seat that now it's important to keep them in the seat, " said Portilla.
3-point belted school buses can cost a district, at least, $8,000 more than only lap-equipped buses.
The Palm Beach County School District and St. Lucie County County School District are already phasing them in.
"If we continue with this, some years from now all of our fleet will have the 3-point belts," explained Don Carter, Transportation Director for St. Lucie County schools where 25 buses in use are equipped with 3-point belts. 25 more are expected to arrive this Spring.
See more from his interview and which local districts are not investing in 3-point school buses by clicking here.
The team from Seatbelt Solutions expects the government to eventually make 3-point belted school buses, law.
Sure, they'll reap the benefits but for the company sales manager, Carlos Portilla, he hopes it's in more ways than just money.
"I have a 1 year-old and a 5-year old son and when they go to school, I'm going to hope they have integrated seatbelts with 3-point harnesses. That's going to make me feel better," he said.
