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Most infant car-seats fail crash test.

consumer reports is running a story that claims that most infant car seats fail front and side crash tests which should be disconcerting to say the least to any parent. apparently u.s. federal guidelines only require that car seats be tested at 30 m.p.h. frontal which is lower than the 35 m.p.h. required for car testing. oddly, the federal rules don't require side impact testing on car seats which is mandatory for vehicle testing. of the 12 seats tested only 2 performed "well" and "most failed disastrously".

we have an eddie bauer deluxe 3 in 1 convertible car seat which was not tested; notably, the eddie bauer model that was tested was found unacceptable after their trained installers could not get the base to fit securely in five different vehicles, leading them to conclude that the base should be recalled.

so, what are you supposed to do if your model wasn't tested? assume that you have a piece of junk and shell out more money for one of car seats that performed "well" or keep it and drive around with the lingering doubt that you're not doing everything you can do to adequately protect your child in the event of a crash?

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1/05/2007 10:42:00 PM 2 comments

2 Comments:

All I know is that we were in a car crash, with both our children that involved hitting a barrier wall on the side and a truck in the front. The baby was in a Graco Snugride and the toddler was in a Britax Marathon. Neither kid even had a bruise or red mark from their straps.

By Blogger amy, at 3:29 PM  

I think the testing was conducted on the "infant" seats only. You know, the bucket type that clicks into a base. This round of tests did not include the "convertible" type seats like the 3 in 1 that you have. I hope they will do those soon since the last time they did was at least a couple of years ago.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:55 PM  

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