Consumer Reports on infant car seats
Posted
January 5, 2007 at
8:04 pm by
Jessica
1/18/07 UPDATE:
Consumber reports is pulling this review because they have found that their testing may have been flawed!! From The Lede Blogs:
We withdrew the report immediately upon discovering a substantive issue that may have affected the original test results. The issue came to light based on new information received Tuesday night and Wednesday morning from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning the speed at which our side-impact tests were conducted.
The original study, published in the February issue of Consumer Reports, was aimed at discovering how infant seats performed in tests at speeds that match those used in the government’s New Car Assessment Program. This program tests most new vehicles in crashes at speeds of 35 m.p.h. for frontal impact and 38 m.p.h. for side impact. Child safety seats, in contrast, are currently tested only in front-impact crashes at speeds of 30 m.p.h.
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Apparently, if you have an infant and you don’t have one of these two car seats, you’re screwed:
The Baby Trend Flex-Loc, and the Graco SnugRide with EPS. Picture from newshannel5.com
The non-profit testing organization said it can recommend only two of the 12 it tested — the Baby Trend Flex-Loc, and the Graco SnugRide with EPS.
Consumer Reports said in frontal crashes of 35 miles per hour, and side crashes of 38 miles per hour, most of the infant car seats it tested “failed disastrously.” They came off their bases or twisted in place.
The magazine thinks the poorest performing seat — the Evenflo Discovery — should be urgently recalled.
Tags: car-seat-safety, Consumer-Reports, Evenflo-Discovery, Graco-SnugRide-with-EPS, News-&-Politics, The-Baby-Trend-Flex-Loc |
6 Responses to “Consumer Reports on infant car seats”
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1. Nichole Murray, NC
January 10, 2007 @ 8:09 am
So im feeling pretty freaked as of now, I purchased the evenflo discovery for my sweet little baby, now come to find out the thing im trying to do for his safty is wrong!!! And what sucks even more is my first choice car seat was the Greco SnugRide, and it was acctually the one pictured and tested. When i saw this study on the news i picked out the car seat i have now as the one that was pictured flying on its base, i think i had a small heartattack. Evenflo wont even recall the car seat right now, they say that the test the other organization did was not valid, that they test at 30mph and the seat was fine….well the next time some one from evenflo is in a 30mph crash let me know please! ppsshhhhaaawwww….
2. Sandy
January 12, 2007 @ 4:59 pm
I’m also freaked out. I bought the Britax used for $75 since it was top rated. Now I need to go out and buy another car seat for an equal amount of money and I’m flat broke. Don’t think I can bring myself to try to sell the Britax to an unsuspecting person. Maybe I can donate it to charity since, as CR says, any car seat is better than no car seat…
3. Bobbi, SD
January 14, 2007 @ 6:58 pm
I have the Graco SnugRide with EPS and I recommend it over any other car seat. It is so comfortable for the baby too, it has the memory foam. I did a lot of looking before I bought one. It is the best.
4. Darcie, SD
January 15, 2007 @ 5:03 pm
I am due in early Feb. and had registered for a graco saftey seat tavel system. I immedialty yanked it off my registry when I read the article. I ordered the Top Rated Babytrend Flex Loc on line in a travel systen, and gratefully paid the 30 bucks shipping ( I found a nice one on babiesrus.com)) for the travel system an extra base. I couldn’t find a babytrend travel system in stores, and I definitly wanted a travel system. It is really nice!! I just got it today!!
5. Pat
November 12, 2007 @ 10:48 am
From the Consumer Reports website:
Car seats update
In our new tests of infant car seats, all performed adequately in simulated head-on crashes at 30 mph, the government standard. But we found differences in how easy the seats are to use and how securely they fit in a variety of vehicles–measures important to the safest ride for your baby.
For our latest tests, we re-evaluated 11 of 12 models we tested for a February 2007 report that we retracted because of testing errors. (One model, the Eddie Bauer Comfort, has since been discontinued and is no longer available.)
In the flawed February 2007 report, we attempted to test infant car seats in simulated 35-mph front and 38-mph side crashes. Those are the speeds that vehicles themselves are routinely subjected to in government tests for crashworthiness. The article reported widespread failures of the car seats, but the testing errors resulted in our withdrawal of those Ratings. (For details, see How our car seat tests went wrong.)
All the infant seats we tested are rear-facing carrier models that snap in and out of a base. The base connects to the car by means of the vehicle’s safety belts or LATCH attachments. LATCH, which stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children, includes fasteners that connect the base to metal anchors in the car.
6. Passhawn
December 24, 2007 @ 2:03 am
When i was pregnant, i pick out what carseat i wanted for my daughter. My daughters fathers and i had just come back from Babierus when my parents called me sayin that they just saw recalls for infant carseasts. We had just bought Baby Trend Flex Loc. When I saw that it was on this list as GOOD and Excellent, i was so happy. After that, made everyone that would keep my daughter buy the base. Alot of my friend were upset that they had most of the recall car seats.