Newborn and Baby
Consumer Reports Magazine Crash test worries
In its February 2007 issue, Consumer Reports magazine reported on crash tests it performed to test the safety of car seats. The results were not encouraging.
Most of the infant car seats tested by Consumer Reports "failed disastrously" in crashes at speeds as low as 56 km/h. The seats came off their bases or twisted in place, the report said. In one case, a test dummy was hurled more than nine metres.
Of the 12 car seats tested, Consumer Reports said it could recommend only two, and it urged a U.S. federal recall of the poorest performing seat, the Evenflo Discovery, which is not sold in Canada.
All the car seats passed U.S. standards — but Consumer Reports argues those standards should be raised.
To be sold in Canada and the United States, an infant seat must perform adequately in a 48 km/h frontal crash, and Consumer Reports found that all but the Discovery did so. But it noted that the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducts its crash tests for new cars at higher speeds — 56 km/h for frontal crashes and 61 km/h 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.
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 US. 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.
Consumer Report Article
On January 4, 2007, Consumer Reports published a safety alert in the U.S. claiming that most infant car seats failed their new front- and side-crash evaluation tests. The report also claims that of 12 seats tested, only two performed well: the Baby Trend Flex-Loc and the Graco SnugRide with EPS (i.e., expanded polystyrene). Only six of the twelve infant car seat models chosen by Consumer Reports for this testing are officially certified for and marketed in Canada. They are: the Graco SnugRide; the Peg-Perego Primo Viaggio SIP; the Evenflo Embrace V; the Graco SafeSeat; the Safety 1st Designer 22; and the Combi Centre ST.
Transport Canada wants to reassure the Canadian travelling public that the Department’s collision investigations and data analyses do not support the results obtained by Consumer Reports. When car seats are used correctly, they perform effectively in motor vehicle collisions and child occupants are afforded optimum protection.
The Department takes the safety of children travelling in vehicles very seriously and is continually working to improve crash protection for children through research, development and enforcement of safety regulations, participation in various national and international committees that work on policy development, and public awareness campaigns.
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