Consumer Reports Says Most Infant Car Seats It Tested Failed in 35 Mph
Crashes
January 4, 2007 14:30
By JIM FITZGERALD
YONKERS, N.Y. -- Most of the infant car seats tested by Consumer
Reports "failed disastrously" in crashes at speeds as low as 35 mph,
the magazine reported Thursday.
The seats came off their bases or twisted in place, the report said. In
one case, a test dummy was hurled 30 feet.
Of the 12 car seats tested, Consumer Reports said it could recommend
only two, and it urged a federal recall of the poorest performing seat,
the Evenflo Discovery.
Evenflo issued a statement disputing the tests' validity, saying, "The
magazine's test conditions and protocols appear to conflict with the
collective experience of car seat manufacturers, NHTSA (the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration) and the scientific community."
To be sold in the United States, an infant seat must perform adequately
in a 30 mph frontal crash, and Consumer Reports found that all but the
Discovery did so. But it noted that NHTSA crash tests most cars at
higher speeds _ 35 mph for frontal crashes and 38 mph for side crashes
_ so the magazine tested the seats at those speeds.
"It's unconscionable that infant seats, which are designed to protect
the most vulnerable children, aren't routinely tested the same as new
cars," said Consumer Reports' Don Mays, a product safety director.
NHTSA Administrator Nicole Nason issued a statement saying: "We are
always interested in making car seats better and safer but not more
complicated and difficult for parents. ... We don't want consumers
misled into thinking holding a child is better than putting it into a
car seat."
Nine seats failed some or all of the higher-speed tests, Consumer
Reports said, while meeting the federal 30 mph standard. Another seat
was judged unacceptable because it did not fit well in several cars,
the magazine said.
Messages seeking comment were left with the Juvenile Products
Manufacturers Association, a trade group.
The magazine tested the type of seat that faces the rear and snaps in
and out of a base. It used test dummies weighing 22 or 30 pounds,
depending on the seat manufacturers' claims.
In the 35 mph test, seats separated from their bases, rotated too far
or would have inflicted grave injuries, Consumer Reports said. At 38
mph, four seats flew out of their bases, it said.
The only seats that passed all the tests were the Baby Trend Flex-Loc
and the Graco SnugRide with EPS _ expanded polystyrene foam _ both
selling for about $90. Consumer Reports urged parents shopping for
seats to buy one of those two, but it also noted that "any child car
seat is better than no seat at all."
It also said some seats performed better when attached by vehicle
safety belts than when attached with the LATCH system. The system,
which stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children, includes belts
that hook the base of a car seat to metal anchors in the vehicle.
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