COLUMBUS, Ind. – A company that makes child car seats has opened up a new technical center in southern Indiana where it will develop and test the safety devices.

Dorel Juvenile Group unveiled on Thursday the new $3.6 million center that involved the renovation of 40,000 square feet at its facility in Columbus, where it makes 90 percent of its car seats and has about 850 workers. The Republic newspaper reported that the company expects to hire about 25 people for design, engineering and development jobs at the center.

"The new technical center encompasses everything necessary to conceive, build and test car seats in one ultra-modern, state-of-the-art facility," said Dave Taylor, the president of Dorel Juvenile Group USA.

The center's opening was the first part of a planned $21 million expansion in Columbus by Dorel that is says will add about 100 jobs by 2013.

Martin Schwartz, the president and CEO of Montreal-based Dorel Industries, said company leaders struggled in 2004 with a decision on whether to stay in Columbus, but that the new research center reaffirms its commitment for years to come.

The new center will centralize Dorel's North American research and development efforts for car seats and other juvenile products. It includes three crash test sleds and slow-motion video cameras that shoot at 1,000 frames per second.

"As the largest manufacturer of car seats globally and a leader in many other juvenile product categories, we have a responsibility to design products with the highest standards of quality and safety," Schwartz said.

Dorel's engineers check that its child seats work in more than 3,000 vehicle designs and fit children of various body types and sizes.

"This center was created to foster innovation," Taylor said. "We are always looking ahead exploring new technologies."