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Infant Fatalities Illustrate Car Seats' Shortcomings

U.S. Seats Built to Lower Standard than European Seats

By James R. Hood
ConsumerAffairs.com

January 5, 2006

Infant Seats • Hazards of Rent-A-Car Child Safety Seats • Feds Revise Child Safety Seat Ratings • Study Warns of Dangerous Chemicals in Child Car Seats • Consumer Reports Takes Blame for Infant Seat Test Error • Use of Booster Seats Increasing • NHTSA Will Write New Child Safety Seat Rules • Consumer Reports Admits Errors in Its Infant Car Seat Tests • Infant Fatalities Illustrate Car Seats' Shortcomings • Child Car Seats Not Up to the Challenge • Parents Still Clueless About Child Safety Seats • NHTSA Releases 2006 Child Safety Seat Ratings • Child Safety Seats Reduce Risk of Death in Crashes More Than Seat Belts Alone • Kids Getting Too Fat For Safety Seats, Study Finds • NHTSA Proposes New Child Safety Seat Rules • Children Not Using Safety Seats, NHTSA Study Finds --- • Consumer Complaints • Auto Safety News

Consumer Reports' warning earlier this week that many infant child seats sold in the U.S. can fail disastrously came too late for Christine of Zaphyrhills, Fla., who bought a Cosco car seat for her daughter.

"I was pleased with it, until the day we were on the way to the zoo and got in a side impact car accident," she told ConsumerAffairs.com. "The carseat held up but did not have enough padding to protect my little girl -- 14 months of age."

"She died 3 days later in a coma of brain injuries because the padding in the headrest wasn't to standard," Christine said. After the accident she found complaints of similar problems reported by ConsumerAffairs.com readers.

"I wish I would have read this site before I bought my daughter her (car seat)," she said.

Lisa of Gulfport, Miss., reported a similar tragedy with an Evenflo infant seat her niece had purchased after carefully checking safety ratings and reviews of various products.

"The pattern was very cute, it had blue and brown plaid with a cute little bear on the back of it. Matthew was her greatest joy and she adored him," Lisa said.

But in March 2004, Lisa's niece was taking Matthew and another child to daycare when her car was hit broadside.

"The car did a 180-degree spin and ended up rolling over on its side. My neice was killed instantly," she said.

"Matthew, who was 5 months old, was ejected from the car. The base of Matthew's safety seat was still strapped in the car. The housing of the seat broke loose from the base and apparantly bounced around in the car during the accident.

"Mathew apparently came out from the straps of the car seat and went out of the window when the car rolled over. When the car came to a rest, Matthew was on the ground outside of the car and the housing unit for the safety seat was out too. The housing unit cracked in several places. The base still remained in the car and was strapped in with the car's seat belt," Lisa reported.

Matthew died of a fractured skull and a brain laceration.

Lisa said she can't help wondering if Matthew would have survived the accident if he had been in a different car seat. According to the Consumer Reports tests, the Discovery failed to meet federal standards and the magazine is urging the government to order a recall.

"After doing research on the net, I have learned that this happens quite often with the Evenflo Discovery car seat," she said. Lisa said that since the accident, she watches for others uses an Evenflo Discovery and tells them of her experience.

Most of the infant seats failed when they were crash-tested at speeds about 30 miles per hour. at those higher speeds.

Like the seat that failed Matthew, those tested twisted violently or flew off their bases, in one case hurling a test dummy 30 feet across the lab, even though the seats met the safety standards set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Of 12 infant seats tested, only two performed well enough to be recommended by Consumer Reports: the Baby Trend Flex-Loc and the Graco SnugRide with EPS.

Nine infant seats provided poor protection in some or all of the tests, even though they meet the federal safety standard. One seat, the Evenflo Discovery, didn't even meet that standard. CR is urging federal officials to order a recall of that seat.

Many infant seats sold in Europe undergo more rigorous testing than do models sold in the U.S. Indeed, when CR crash-tested an infant seat purchased in England, the Britax Cosy Tot, it was the best in the tests. An infant seat sold in the U.S. by the same manufacturer, the Companion, failed CU's tests.

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