A recent set of findings published in Consumer Reports Magazine has significantly increased public concern regarding the safety of several infant car seat models. The alarming conclusions made in this issue of Consumer Reports (see summary below) are based on a battery of tests that were limited in scope and conducted at speeds more severe than approximately 98% of the frontal impact crashes nationwide1. Consumer Reports refuses to disclose the data collected in their study to the public or manufacturers, and no company whose car seats were under scrutiny has had the opportunity to inspect or analyze the models used in the Consumer Reports experiments, nor the precise methods they employed.
While we at EliteCarSeats make no claim to expertise on the subject of car seat crash testing, denying the manufacturers access to the data from which these conclusions were drawn is problematic, for not only the manufacturers themselves, but retailers and consumers as well. The protocols and conditions of Consumer Reports’ tests conflict with more than two decades of collective experience and rigorous testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), car seat manufacturers, and the scientific community.
Travel by automobile is an inherently risky undertaking, more dangerous statistically than any other method of transportation. As any Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician will tell you (we have three on staff), car seats save hundreds of children’s lives per year. The real risk factor for children traveling by car is the improper installation and use of infant car seats, not the durability of specific seats crash tested at speeds in excess of current standards.
EliteCarSeats.com appreciates Consumer Reports demand for more stringent testing standards for car seat safety, even though existing standards for car seats established by traffic safety authorities in the U.S. already reduce the likelihood of death for children in traffic accidents by more than 70%2. While we completely support ‘pushing the envelope’ in car seat safety standards, the conclusions of this less-than-exhaustive study, and the level of public alarm raised by this specific report, is more the result of media sensationalism than a rigorous set of scientifically sound findings.
Article Summary
“Safety alert: What if this were your child?” Consumer Reports crash tested 12 different infant car seat models at speeds in excess (by as much as 17%) of those currently required by the NHTSA. All car seats available on the US market cannot be sold unless they can withstand a frontal crash of at least 30 mph. Consumer Reports tested these seats at 35 and 38 mph, in both frontal and side impact simulations, using crash sleds and the back seat of a Ford Explorer SUV. In some instances, tests were conducted using the LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren) attachments endorsed by the NHTSA—and government safety authorities worldwide—while similar tests were conducted using only vehicle safety belt restraints. The basic findings:
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For the complete article, go to:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/child-car-booster-seats/car-seats-2-07/overview/0207_seats_ov.htm
Many of the low ratings and failures reported in the Consumer Reports article are the result of high velocity (35-38 mph) side-impact collision tests. We will not refute that these findings are notable. However, few governing bodies currently require side-impact tests for car seats. Side impacts accounted for roughly 26% of auto-accident deaths to children under 1 year old between 2001 and 20053. NHTSA is aware of this issue, and is currently researching a set of standards and protocols for side impact testing of car seats that address them.
In addition, Consumer Reports asserts that most of the seats they tested performed better with a vehicle safety restraint than with LATCH attachments. Improper installation is the #1 source of car seat failures4, and the principle behind LATCH is that it makes correct installation easier and more ‘permanent’ than using a vehicle safety restraint. However, using a vehicles seat belt to secure your safety seat is just as safe. In this context, Consumer Reports’ challenging the value of the LATCH system deserves further scrutiny, since it is proper installation – not the system of installation – that increases child transportation safety overall. In a 1999 study that surveyed more then 17,500 children who traveled by automobile, only 15% were harnessed correctly in properly installed car seats5.
“The problem we have now,” says NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson, “is parents who are not installing the seats properly.”6
Conclusion
Pressing car seat manufacturers to crash test their models at speeds higher than those mandated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) may have a reverse effect on child transportation safety. New measures and installation technologies for car seats that are already thoroughly tested and certified for the market will not only increase their cost but may also make proper installation more difficult, thus contributing to the number of child deaths and injuries in traffic accidents.
Immediately following its publication, this Consumer Report resulted in public uproar over the reported safety of several infant car seats. Many parents who do not own one of the two car seats recommended in the report were scared and confused by these findings, despite the fact that no car seat available today can go to market without extensive crash testing at Federally mandated standards. EliteCarSeats.com has received negative feedback and criticism from some customers for carrying certain infant car seats that received low ratings in the report.
We will not be removing any infant car seats on our current roster from our site. EliteCarSeats.com does not base its selection of car seats on sales. Was that the case, we would offer a much larger selection of ‘economy’ brands and other models that do not meet our standing criteria. We perform extensive research on every new model we choose to carry, and stand by the brands and models we already offer.
EliteCarSeats.com does not (and will never) carry any child safety seat that does not meet the stringent demands of not only the NHTSA, but also our own on-staff Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians.
EliteCarSeats.com is deeply concerned that the findings published in this report may discourage parents from using a car seat at all, or encourage them to rely only on vehicle safety belts to restrain their infant children. This is extremely dangerous. Failing to restrain your child in a weight appropriate, NHTSA certified child safety seat while driving will directly endanger his or her life. As Consumer Reports states concisely in the final line of the January 2007 article, “Any child seat is better than no seat at all.”
Links and Resources:
UM Transportation Institute
www.umtri.umich.edu/divisionPage.php?pageID=147
NHTSA, 1986; Report No. DOT HS 806 890, “An Evaluation of Child Passenger Safety: The Effectiveness and Benefits of Safety Seats”
www.nhtsa.gov/portal/site/nhtsa/menuitem.8be34eba2a5557dd304a4c4446108a0c
Consumer Reports Magazine, Jan. 2007
www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/child-car-booster-seats/car-seats-2-07/overview/0207_seats_ov.htm
Washington DC Office of Research and Technology, 2003; Report No. DOT HS 809 671, “Misuse of Child Restraints”
www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/research/Misuse/pages/TRD.html
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, “Child Passenger Safety”
www.cdc.gov/ncipc/duip/spotlite/cps_prevention.htm