This recent article from the Washington Post Magazine explores the problem of children being left in hot vehicles. The story focuses on one family's experience. We often hear chuckles when we speak with parents on this. Many think that there is absolutely no way that they would let this happen to their children. This piece may put the issue in a different light for many. Be forewarned that it is long. It is also very sad and a bit graphic. We urge you to read from the original source here as it features additional media. You need to make a password and login with the Washington Post but it's free and well worth it. We've also included this link to the Washington Post that includes a Q and A with it's author Gene Weingarten.
Fatal Distraction Forgetting a child in the back seat of a hot, parked car is a horrifying, inexcusable mistake. But is it a crime?
The defendant was an immense man, well over 300 pounds, but in the
gravity of his sorrow and shame he seemed larger still. He hunched
forward in the sturdy wooden armchair that barely contained him,
sobbing softly into tissue after tissue, a leg bouncing nervously under
the table. In the first pew of spectators sat his wife, looking
stricken, absently twisting her wedding band.
We placed this link in the same post as the NBC piece but it really needs to be on it's own. The Office of Defects Investigation is an entity within NHTSA. Their website is fantastic and they continue to add functionality.
Currently, the site allows you to not only search to see if your child's car seat is recalled but will guide you through registering it with the manufacturer. You can even subscribe to recall alerts via email. Also, use it to see if any safety components of your vehicle might be recalled.
Checking to see if your vehicle is free of recalls is an often overlooked aspect of child passenger safety. Imagine confidently installing a car seat using LATCH only to find out that the lower anchors were defective. Perhaps the seat belts or braking systems in your vehicle have been recalled by the manufacturer. Generally, if you've kept up with the scheduled maintenance of your car this is not an issue. But, it never hurts to check.
It's pretty simple but leave a comment if you need some help navigating their site.
In an effort to keep readers informed as to the various responses around the industry here's a link to the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association's response to the Tribune article. It's a PDF file so you may need to download Adobe Reader to view it. We've including the content below.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, March 2, 2009 JPMA Responds to Chicago Tribune Article on Infant Child Restraints
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. – The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA), which represents the leading manufacturers of infant child restraints in North America, disputes the recent findings of the Chicago Tribune about the performance of infant child restraints in New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) tests. In the real world, no product is more effective at reducing fatalities and injuries to our precious children.
“Child restraints are highly effective safety devices that have saved thousands of children’s lives in car crashes,” said Robert Waller, Jr., CAE, JPMA President. “Their use is required throughout the nation, because they are so effective at reducing injury to children. It is irresponsible to suggest that infant child restraints may not perform well in crashes.”
We
received the following reaction from a reader this morning.We feel it’s probably indicative of many
parents’ feelings so we decided to give it its own post with our response.
From a concerned reader
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it
seems that you are advising parents to do nothing until the manufacturers see
fit to issue a recall. This is not acceptable to me. If I had a child in an
infant seat I would move that child to a convertible seat after watching these
crash test videos. Why should I put my child at risk, not to mention the risk
to my other children and other passengers in the car if the seat becomes a
projectile, when there is an alternative (a convertible seat) that has not been
shown to become detached in a crash? Frankly, I don't care if the type of crash
simulated is rare.
I also don't like the
assumption that the seats were installed incorrectly. I think this is just an
excuse on the part of the manufacturers. If a technician preparing a crash test
can't pop an infant seat into its base correctly then how on earth can we
expect that a parent will do so each and every time multiple times a day? If it
is so difficult to put these infants seats in that the technicians managed to
mess up for multiple crash tests then the seats need to be recalled simply
because they are too difficult for any normal human being to use. Please don't
insult our intelligence.
Lastly, just for the record, I
install all of my own children's seats and each and every time that I have had
them checked by a CPST they have found them to be installed correctly.
-Indie
Safety Squad’s response
Thanks
for the comments Indie. You seem like a concerned parent and someone
who considers their children's safety paramount. This is an opportunity
to not only address your
concerns, which I'm sure many parents share, but also reinforce what we
think
parents should do...
75% - 80% of babies who die from SIDS are not sleeping in cribs (www.sidsillinois.org). Providing a baby-friendly sleep environment is one of the best ways to protect your baby from SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). A safe sleep environment for an infant consists of a safety-approved crib, a new, firm mattress, and a tight-fitting sheet. No toys, bumpers, feather beds, sheep skins, blankets, or covers.
Adult beds were not meant for babies. Babies are not only at an increased risk for SIDS in the adult bed, they are also 40 times more likely to die from accidentally suffocation or entrapment. This can happen from blankets, pillows, quilts, as well as other family members in the bed. The newer memory foam, or Tempur-pedic mattresses, can be especially dangerous because...
Although this came out a couple days ago we thought it would be useful to post. Click here for the source. The link for additional information on child safety seats at the bottom is directly from the NHTSA statement.-safety squad
NHTSA Statement on Review of Federal Standards for Child Safety Seats
March 2, 2009. At the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the safety of infants and children is vitally important.
That is why parents and caregivers alike can be assured that
correctly placing your child in a safety seat in the rear of the
vehicle is absolutely the best protection against serious or fatal
injury in a crash.
Every single child seat on the market today meets
our rigorous safety standards, without exception...
We are receiving this information from a NHTSA Alert. It should be said that while NHTSA needs an overhaul in many of its operations, alerts like this work well.
As of 8 a.m., there is no information on the Recaro website regarding this recall. There were two previous notifications on the Recaro site: one "Consumer Advisory" and one previos recall. It is not clear yet what action will be taken to correct this issue.
RECARO North America, Inc. is recalling certain Signo child restraint assemblies manufactured from February through September 2008. The central front adjuster strap on some seats may slip within the metal adjuster (A-Lock) that controls tightness of the harness, thereby preventing the harness from being properly tightened. If this condition existed and a vehicle crash occurred, the child would not be properly secured in their child restraint system and may sustain injury. RECARO will notify owners and replace any defective child restraint system free of charge. The recall is expected to begin during March 2009. Owners can contact RECARO customer service toll-free at 1-888-473-2290.
We are in the process of notifying all Safety Squad clients.
Here are some points we need to make relating to the NBC piece.
1. They needed to pack a lot into a very small time frame.
2. The SafeSeat did not "fail" their tests. It detached from the base one time in their tests. Investigators were unable to replicate it again.
3. All car seats currently available in stores pass NHTSA's mandated tests. This includes most of the seats from the suspect tests. Check out our helpful links below to see if your seat is recalled.
4. Although we mention the basic difference between the sled test and the crash test being investigated, it's important to note that the NHTSA sled test is designed to be more severe than 95% of real-world crashes.
5. Many entities, including some car seat manufacturers, are questioning the validity of these new crash tests. They argue that the car seats may not be installed properly.
6. Since these new tests are still being investigated it is unclear what will come out of them. If they lead to improved car seat tests that's a good thing for parents.
7. In the meantime, unless your car seat is recalled, correct use of it based on quality instruction from a child passenger safety tech remains the best way to keep your baby safe on the road.
Make sure you check out NHTSA's statement linked at the end.-safety squad
An article in the March 1, 2009 edition of the Chicago Tribune suggested that unpublicized government crash tests from 2008 may have revealed "flaws" in car seats. While the details of the tests are still unclear, one thing remains undisputed: car seats save children's lives every day. It is critical that parents and caregivers continue to use car seats for their children.
Correctly used car seats and booster seats are extremely effective, reducing the risk of death in a crash by as much as 71 percent. And the number of children killed in crashes over the past 30 years has dropped significantly, mostly due to the widespread use of car seats and enhanced child passenger safety laws.
Safe Kids USA always puts children and their safety first. Despite the report in the Tribune, the car seats on the market today are still the best, proven way to protect children in the event of a crash. Parents should continue to buckle their children in the right car seat or booster seat on every ride.
Safe Kids believes that more testing for car seats and vehicles can only continue to advance the child passenger safety field and improve the level of protection we can offer children when they ride. The more we know about car seats and how they react in crashes, the better equipped we will be to push for new technology and improvements that will keep children safer.
But there are a few important things a parent can do today to make sure their child is getting the best protection when using a car seat or booster seat:
Always use the right restraint for your child’s height, weight and developmental age.
Read and follow the manufacturer’s instructions that came with the car seat.
Make sure your car seat and vehicle work together. For example, the largest car seat on the market may not fit in a compact car as well as a smaller car seat. Remember all seats meet the same Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
Get help installing your seat the right way. Find a Safe Kids car seat checkup event at http://www.safekidsweb.org/events/events.asp. A certified car seat technician will guide you to the right seat for your child and vehicle and teach you how to install it correctly.
Why reinvent the wheel! Our friends at carseatblog.com have done a great job summing up the basics of this issue. We will be following with points more specific to you in the coming days.
"The big news story of the moment comes to us courtesy of the Chicago Tribune. As you have probably seen by now, they ran a story on Saturday, February 28 titled Car Seat Tests Reveal “Flaws”. So, is this overblown, sensationalistic journalism meant to sell more newspapers or is this a real ”Houston - we have a problem” issue? Let’s take a look at what we do know at the moment: As part of a research project, infant seats with dummies were secured in the back seats of vehicles that were crash tested as part of the NCAP program. NCAP stands for New Car Assessment Program. If you’ve heard of “government 5-star ratings,” then you know NCAP. NCAP is part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The purpose of this New Car Assessment Program is to provide consumers with vehicle safety information, primarily front and side crash rating results, to aid consumers in their vehicle purchase decisions. The rating results utilize a star system from 1 to 5 stars, with 5 being the highest. For frontal crash ratings, dummies representing an average-sized adult are placed in driver and front passenger seats and secured with the vehicle’s seat belts. Vehicles are crashed into a fixed barrier at 35 mph, which is equivalent to a head-on collision between two similar vehicles (vehicles from the same weight class) each moving at 35 mph. Frontal star ratings indicate the chance of a serious head and chest injury to the driver and right front seat passenger. A serious injury is defined as one requiring immediate hospitalization and may be life threatening...." More
