By Marci: Chief Mabel Feeder and Treat Provider, currently under review for not playing tug properly

My favorite video review may be all you want to know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gEU8OE1jxI Talk about kid tested and approved.

And you know you want a picture of silly Mabel with it

This is one of a few posts we will put together with other information as a pdf for those of you wanting to know more about the cars or why we chose them. We will also be doing an interview with our Volunteer Tech, Ryan Rose from First Energy© soon with a demonstration of the remote. We will show various test drives from time to time (mostly because watching the Mini Stars in their Mini Cars is so cute, we can’t even). Super exciting for future posts is our Akron Children’s Hospital test run in the Paul and Carol David Foundation Burn Institute in late October. Lots of fun still to come before we even initiate launch with Mabel Motors. Oh gee, now I wish we had a spaceship car.

All of the little cars for kids are so darn cute, and everyone had their own opinions on different cars. I asked parents who had them, read reviews, and looked at the features I found absolutely necessary for ease of care and use, weight, capacity, and more. Taking in all of this great advice, I chose the Moderno Kids Trail Explorer (https://www.modernokids.com) cars in the end. I’ve put a fill list of features at the bottom, but let’s explore some of my highlights for making this choice.

For fun and your Mini Star’s excitement, the car has lights, music, action. Since the Bureau of Mabel Motors wants to know your child’s favorite song anyway, we can play it during the drive and even sing along – you know you want to. With both the remote and for drivers, there are two forward speeds plus reverse. This is fabulous, because we can go more slowly for safety if we want.

I know people love super fancy cars, but I wanted consistency for the Mabel Motors Initiative. Since these cars resemble a Jeep®, I felt like that was a great image and pleasing to the largest variety of people. Additionally, each of the Trail Explorers comes in a variety of colors, including police and rescue versions. Since we will always be looking for sponsors and taking our cars out for fundraising, I thought this provided the variety and consistency I needed. I also appreciate having choices to match hospital logos and themes or other areas we might find partners. Think about it – if you wanted to sponsor one yourself or for your business, you’d have choices but still match our program, which really appeals to our hospital partners. 

The Trail Explorer also has foam wheels instead of plastic. This makes a quieter ride and makes it great for indoors. We have had lots of Mini Stars test our cars both indoors and out, and we all appreciated the tires more than the more common plastic tires.

For your child’s excitement, the car had lights, music, action. With both the remote and for drivers, there are two forward speeds plus reverse. This is fabulous, because we can go more slowly for safety if we want. 

My biggest area when looking at the cars was matching capacity to car weight while considering how each hospital partner would store and maintain the cars. Most of the size differences were negligible, so I was able to narrow down that part fairly quickly. The Trail Explorer does weigh 70 pounds, but that is usually only about 10-20 pounds more than average 12-volt cars for kids. Buttttt, those cars max out from 60-66 pounds and hold one driver. Our choice has two seats for two kids or more room for one and holds up to 100 pounds. Plus, and this is so great, it has seatbelts! So, your child and a stuffed Mabel can both be safely belted for their drive. Adorable.

The charges on the batteries are going to vary, being affected by speed, weight, and riding conditions.  Average riding time is 30-90 minutes and charging time 1010 hours with the charger automatic ally preventing overcharging. In case you should run out of battery, it is fairly easy to pull the car along by its front bumper and/or have a handlebar under the rear bumper. 

I like to talk about costs, because we are a nonprofit. When you compare size, quality, capacity and more plus free shipping of unassembled cars to us or our hospitals, we know we made the best choice possible for quality, safety, and consistency. Where we do run into problems is the cost of shipping the cars if we build them here then ship them. This is where we hope to find a good balance of fundraising for shipping costs and volunteers willing to help at our locations (check out our champions section if you would be able to help? It’s here:  https://mabelmotors.org/champions.

So, see you next week with more about the cars. Do you already know more than you ever wanted to know? You’ll still have fun with Ryan in our interview. See you then and thanks for checking with Mabel Motors Mini Cars for Mini Stars. Drop us a line or comment if you have any questions or want to know more.

Here is a full list of the features from the Modern Kids site

Trail Explorer Battery Powered Two Seater 12V Children Electric Ride-On Truck Car with Bluetooth MP3 Player, FM Radio, PU Foam Rubber LED Wheels, Underbody LED Kit, LED Light Bars and Full Function Parental Remote Control by Moderno Kids

• ASTM F963 Compliant Product (US Consumer Toy Safety Standards)
• Suitable for Boys or Girls 3-6 Years Old (Or Younger, Under Supervision of Adult) with Maximum combined Rider(s) Weight of 100 lb
• 2 Seater Ride-On Truck Car for Toddlers 2-4 Years or Single Rider 3-6 Years Old
• Swappable / Removable Large Capacity 12V Power Battery with Overload Protection, 2 Powerful Motors, 2 Forward Speeds (3 Speeds on Parental Remote), 1 Reverse Speed, Maximum Speed 2-5 Mph
• Forward / Park / Reverse Shifter Switch, Lights ON/OFF Switch
• NEW! Full Function Long Range 2.4Ghz Parental Remote Control with remote STOP function
• NEW! Soft Start and Electric Brake System for Gradual Acceleration and Reliable Braking
• NEW! 2 Way Adjustable Soft Perforated PU Leather seat with 2 Way Convertible Safety Seat Belt (Can be used as Single Safety Belt for 1 Child or 2 Separate Seat Belts for 2 Kids)
• NEW! Wide Track Zero Maintenance Soft EVA Foam Rubber Tires with LED Lights (Provide Good Traction and Comfortable Quiet Ride)
• Realistic working LED Headlights, LED Light Bars / Tail Lights / Dashboard Lights and Gauges. Openable Doors and Hood
• NEW! Front + Rear Spring Shock Absorbers, Underbody Soft Glow Blue LED Light Kit (Preinstalled)
• NEW! Integrated MP3 Player with Bluetooth, FM Radio and AUX MP3 Audio Input, Plays files from Micro SD card, USB Flash Drive or external devices like iPod, iPad, iPhone or Android Phones
• Horn Sound Buttons on the Steering Wheel, On-screen Digital Battery Voltage Meter