Car Seat Recalls

March 5, 2009
Recaro is recalling about 5,400 Signo child restraint systems. A defective spring could allow the central front adjuster strap to slip, keeping the harness from being securely tightened.

In the event of a crash, a child might not be properly secured and could be injured or killed.

Recaro will notify ownes and replace any defective system free of cahrge. Owners can contact Recaro at 1-888-473-2290.

Consumers may contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY: 1-800-424-9153) or at www.safercar.gov.

It's not enough that you use a car seat for your children anytime they get in a vehicle. If it isn't properly installed they could still be at risk in the event of an accident.

AAA, after a recent survey, said it's clear that many parents are still missing the mark, even with new technologies like Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) that are supposed to take some of the guesswork out of the process.

AAA's recent survey of Child Passenger Safety Technicians (CPSTs), those certified to inspect and properly install car seats, reveals that LATCH misuse is cause for concern. Nearly three-quarters of CPSTs surveyed observe parents misusing the LATCH system more than half of the time.

"While strides have been made to make car seats easier to use, the overwhelming majority of car seats are still not installed properly," said Jennifer Huebner-Davidson, manager, Traffic Safety Advocacy at AAA.

LATCH has been standard equipment since 2002 and is generally regarded as a user-friendly alternative to the seat belt. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 75 percent of parents with experience installing car seats using both methods prefer LATCH.

No guarantee

Despite this preference, LATCH does not guarantee a perfect installation; a recent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) survey found that only 13 percent of parent volunteers were able to use LATCH correctly to install car seats.

Part of the problem is where parents place the seat. For years they have been told the safest position in the vehicle is the rear-center seat. However, in an IIHS study of 2010-11 model year vehicles, only seven of the 98 top-selling vehicles supported LATCH use in the rear-center seat.

AAA's safety experts say many parents make the mistake of using the inner anchor for each outboard seat to install a car seat in the center seat using LATCH. If the vehicle does not support a LATCH installation in the rear-center seat, a seat belt should be used to secure the car seat, or the car seat should be moved to an outboard seat.

Parents should also consult the vehicle owner's manual before installing a car seat in any vehicle, AAA says.

Dubrow, her husband and two small children flew from Seattle to San Diego in December, renting a car and two child safety seats from Advantage Rent A Car. The seats, she says, had obvious problems.

"Some seats were obviously missing parts. Some were obviously very old," she told ConsumerAffairs.com. "We installed two of the better looking seats thinking that they were okay only to find that they were not working.

"One was missing the top part of the harness that would secure the child in a crash, the other had a seatbelt that wouldn't tighten enough to secure our child. It took us quite some time to find working seats to install," she said. "The seats were also filthy, with huge black marks on some and dirt or crumbs on others."

Dubrow says that when she complained to the rental car manager, he offered to refund the money for the seats, but otherwise offered no help. It wasn't just a matter of poor customer service, she says, it was a violation of the law.

"In California, there are clear laws regarding child safety seat rental. These old, non-working seats were not only unsafe, they were also against the law," Dubrow said.

Media attention

Dubrow didn't take the experience sitting down. She blogged about it, gaining the attention of a TV station in San Diego, which reported on her experience.

As a result, she says, Advantage performed a company-wide inspection of their car seats, destroying any that did not meet the legal guidelines. The company has also instituted a company-wide Child Safety Seat policy to ensure that they rent only safe, clean car seats in the future.

"The problems were really obvious," Dubrow said. "I don't have any knowledge about car seats beyond what a well-informed parent would have after purchasing their own seats and using them daily. In my opinion, it is something that Advantage employees should have recognized."

The take-away lesson for parents, she says, is to never assume that a car seat is safe, simply because a company is renting it.

"If you see a company putting people at risk, take action to make it better," Dubrow said.

What to do

Dubrow says parents need to know how to check a rental for safety. Here's what to look for:

• Inspect each seat thoroughly for any evidence of cracking, twisting, worn harness webbing or broken buckles.

• Verify that seatbelts are threaded through the proper channels.

• Once you have latched the buckles, pull hard to make sure that they do not detach.

• Find the "birth date" label on the side or back of the seat, and don't use a seat more than 5 years old.

• Get a copy of the car seat manual

"I was shocked at how many parents responded saying 'I've seen that before.' I'm hopeful that my story will inspire others to take action," Dubrow said.

Evenflo is recalling 1 million car safety seats because of a serious risk of injury or death in a collision, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety administration (NHTSA).

The models covered by the recall are the 390, 391, 534, and 552 Discovery car seat and travel system manufactured from April 2005 through January 2008.

Recent tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Evenflo indicate the car seat could break apart and separate from the base during high impact side collisions.

Evenflo plans to notify registered owners of the seats and provide a free supplemental dual-hook fastener to ensure that the car seat remains attached to its base in a high impact collision.

The recall is scheduled to begin in February. Owners should call Evenflo at 1-800-356-2229.

Consumers can also contact NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) or go to www.safecar.gov.

December 9, 2008
Graco is recalling nearly 44,000 Comfortsport convertible car seats, in the Frazier Fashion line.

These seats were equipped with a large sized, supplemental pad or "body pillow" that partially obscures the child airbag warning label which is on the seat pad, a violation of federal safety standards. Serious injury could occur to the child should the seat be improperly placed in the vehicle.

Owners may contact Graco at 1-800-345-4109 or by e-mail at consumerservices@gracobaby.com.

The recalled seats were manufactured from November 1, 2006 through October 8, 2007.

December 12, 2008
Britax is recalling certain Frontier child restraint systems because of a problem with the harness straps.

The recall affects Models E9L54E7 (Frontier Red Rock), E9L54H6 (Frontier Rushmore), E9L54H7 (Frontier Pink Sky), E9L54M6 (Frontier Canyon), and E9L5490 (Frontier Sahara), manufactured between April 1 and September 18, 2008.

If the harness straps are loosened using one strap at a time, the harness straps may become detached from the metal yoke located on the back of the child seat. Should the harness straps become detached, the child will not be properly restrained, possibly resulting in an increased risk of injury in the event of a vehicle crash.

Britax will mail the consumer notice and remedy kits to all registered owners free of charge. Owners who have not registered their seats with Britax must call Britax at 1-704-409-1700 and request a kit. The recall is expected to begin on or about January 7, 2009.

Information and instructions related to the campaign will be posted on the Britax website at www.britaxusa.com no later than December 17, 2008. Owners with other questions can contact Britax at 1-704-409-1700.

Consumers may contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY: 1-800-424-9153) or at www.safercar.gov.

Evenflo is recalling about 151 Big Kid Factory Select booster seats, Model Nos. 30911173AD, 3091967AD, 30911118AD, and 30911120D, shipped between August 6, 2012, and September 18, 2012. The seats fail to conform to the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 213, "Child Restraint Systems."

The recalled seats were originally manufactured solely for purposes of retail display and not to be sold at retail and were packaged without the instruction manual or the required registration card. They were inadvertently shipped to Evenflo's institutional customers (i.e. hospitals, government agencies) to be given to families. None of the affected units were sold at retail stores.

Without the instruction manual the seat may be used improperly. Should owners not file a registration with the child seat manufacturer due to lack of information on how to do so, they may not be notified of a safety recall. Either condition puts the child at an increased risk of possible injury in the event of a crash.

The affected seats have a label stating: "DISPLAY ONLY – NOT INTENDED FOR SALE," located on the back of the booster seat headrest. Evenflo will mail owners who have received an affected Big Kid booster seat a remedy kit that includes a consumer registration card, an instruction manual, and an overlabel to cover the current label stating: "DISPLAY ONLY – NOT INTENDED FOR SALE." The remedy kit will be provided free of charge. Notification is expected to begin during October 2012.

Owners may contact Evenflo at 1-800-233-5921.

Britax is recalling certain 55,455 convertible child restraints:

• Models: Boulevard 70 G3, Advocate 70 G3, and Pavilion 70 G3.
• Model Numbers: E9LJ91A, E9LJ91M, E9LJ91S, E9LJ92E, E9LJ93P, E9LJ93S, E9LK91A, E9LK31A, E9LK31Q, E9LK32D, E9LK32Z, E9LK33Q, E9LL11A, E9LL11Q, E9LL12D, E9LL12Z, E9LG81A, E9LG83N, E9LG83P, E9LG83X, E9LG83Y, E9LL21A, E9LL23P, E9LL23Y.

The seats, manufactured from June 2012 through August 2012, have a softer chest pad material that may be bitten or chewed into pieces by a child using the seat. If the child bites off a piece of the softer pad, it could be a choking hazard, resulting in injury or death.

Britax will provide owners with replacement HUGS pads that are made from a firmer material and instructions on how to replace the pads free of charge. Owners may remove the HUGS pads and continue using the seat until replacement pads are received.

The safety recall is expected to begin shortly.

Owners may contact Britax Customer Service Department at 1-888-427-4829 with questions or to request replacement pads in the event their restraint is not already registered with Britax.

Dorel Juvenile Group (DJG) is recalling 89,527 Safety 1st Complete Air LX (models CC050xxx), Safety 1st Complete Air SE (models CC051xxx), and Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite (models 22187xxx , 22465xxx ,CC033xxx , and CC046xxx), and Eddie Bauer Deluxe 3 in 1 convertible (models 22790xxx , and CC046xxx) child restraint systems manufactured from July 20, 2010, through May 18, 2011. [Note: The 'xxx' at the end of each model number represents different color options that each seat could be.]

The rear facing belt path installation arrows are incorrect and could be potentially construed as pointing toward the forward facing vehicle belt path location. If the child seat is not installed properly, the child may be injured in the event of a crash.

DJG will notify registered owners and provide free label kits consisting of modified labels which will correct the potential inconsistent information and instructions as to the proper installation of the restraint, free of charge.

Owners may call DJG toll-free at 1-877-675-2355.

Graco Children's Products recalling 1.910,000 rear-facing child restraints manufactured between July 2010 and May 2013.

The models subject to recall include:

• SnugRide
• SnugRide Classic Connect (including Classic Connect 30 and 35)
• SnugRide 30
• SnugRide 35
• SnugRide Click Connect 40
• Aprica A30.

The defect involves difficulty in unlatching the harness buckle. In some cases, the buckle becomes stuck in a latched condition so that it cannot be opened by depressing the buckle's release button.

It may be difficult to remove the child from the restraint, increasing the risk of injury in the event of a vehicle crash, fire, or other emergency, in which a prompt exit from the vehicle is required.

Graco will replace the buckle with a new design, free of charge. The recall began on August 5, 2014. Owners may contact Graco at 1-877-766-7470 or by email at consumerservices@gracobaby.com.  

OXO of El Paso, Texas, is recalling about 25,000 Nest booster seats in the U.S. and Canada.

The stitching on the restraint straps can loosen which allows the straps to separate from the seat, posing a fall hazard to children.

The firm has received 5 reports of the stitching coming undone releasing the straps following a child pulling on the strap or an adult tightening the straps. No injuries have been reported.

This recall involves the Nest booster seat sold in green (model 6367200), pink (model 6367300), taupe (model 6367500) and orange (model 6367400) with a white base. A sticker affixed to the underside of the seat reads “Nest Booster Seat” with the model number and manufacture date. The manufacture date code represents the month and year in MMYY format and recalled units have the code: 0714, 0814, 0914, 1014, 1114 or 1214.

The formed plastic seats are about 13 inches wide, by 14 inches tall, by 12 inches deep and have a grey 3-point child restraint strap system. The OXO logo is embossed on the restraint system’s buckle.

The booster seats, manufactured in China, were sold at Buybuy Baby, Toys“R”Us/Babies“R”Us and independent specialty stores nationwide and online at Amazon.com from September 2014, through April 2015, for about $55.

Consumers should immediately stop using the Nest booster seats and contact OXO for a free repair kit with redesigned safety straps and installation instructions.

Consumers may contact OXO at (800) 545-4411 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or by email at info@oxo.com.

Combi USA is recalling 39,395 Coccoro Convertible Child Restraints, model number 8220, manufactured January 1, 2009, to June 29, 2016.

When the car seat is installed in a forward facing position and secured with only the vehicle’s lap belt, excessive force may be transmitted to the seat occupant in the event of a crash, increasing the risk of injury. As such, these child seats fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 213, "Child Restraint Systems."

In the event of a crash, the seat occupant is at an increased risk of injury.

This recall does not affect the use of the Coccoro child restraint when it is installed in a rearward-facing position.

What to do

Combi will notify owners, and provide them with a cover to be added to the bottom of the seat, free of charge. The recall was expected to begin in July 2016.

Owners may contact Combi customer service at 1-888-232-3294, or by going to http://registration.combiusa.com/recall. Combi's number for this recall is 610.