SAFETY SQUAD: We're here to prepare you

A Unified Car Seat Message: Our Mission

One of the reasons we created Safety Squad was to create an independent voice for parents. We sit in a position to see all facets of the industry and form opinions free of influence. Our only loyalty is to parents. We give them a birds eye view, so that they can make informed decisions regarding safety for their family. This is the first in a series of comments on unifying the car seat message.

Before we talk about what is being said, we must first identify who is talking.
In no particular order:

• NHTSA (National Highway Traffic & Safety Administration)
• Safe Kids (Local, National, Worldwide)
• State legislators (Individual State law)
• Car Seat Manufacturers
• Retailers
• Vehicle Manufacturers
• Public Safety Agencies
• Watchdog Groups
• Non-Profits
• Individual CPS Techs
• JPMA (Juvenile Product Manufactures Association)
• Researchers (Consumer Reports, etc)
• Hospitals and Medical Associations (Specializing in Child Safety)
• Media
• Parents (Forums, Blogs, Websites)

Everyone has their own message. Some are similar, while others are quite different. Either way, the end product is a confusing and conflicted message about how parents should address car seats. It is our mission to create unified message, while allowing individual opinion and enterprise.

Safety Squad Partners with Northwestern Memorial's Prentice Women's Hospital

Safety Squad LLC is proud to announce its partnership with Northwestern Memorial's Prentice Women's Hospital to provide car seat instruction to its' clients.

This service provides education and hands on instruction to expectant parents regarding proper placement and use of their car seat within their vehicle. This is a 30-minute private one-on-one session with the parents, the technician and the car seat/vehicle.  Enjoy peace of mind, knowing that you've done everything in your power to keep your baby safe in the car.

Expectant parents should participate in this service before delivery.  $45 per car seat/per vehicle. Ask about our discounts for twins/triplets, or multiple vehicles.  Appointments are available Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings. Call for exact dates and times. Have the following available when calling to register. 

• Vehicle, year, make, model
• Car seat brand, model, serial number and model number

For your appointment, bring your car seat (out of the box), all related accessories including the manual, and your vehicle manual.

To check available dates and to register, call (877) 926-4664. For more information click here

30 lb booster seats: It's time for a change (PART 2)

We just returned from Lifesavers 2008 in Portland, Oregon. Among other things, this conference focuses on car seat safety. Unlike the ABC Conference in Las Vegas which is geared to retailers, this conference focuses on car seat technicians and the challenges they face.

One topic we addressed was the 30 lb booster seat issue. Booster use is rising as states are requiring parents to use boosters or higher-weight harnesses to increased ages, weights and heights. This provides manufacturers a more robust market for selling...

Be careful on parenting forums

We like to read parenting forums to see what parents are saying about car seats.  Forums are a tremendous resource for parenting information, but when it comes to car seats... forums can sometimes be misleading.

Recently, we found a discussion about expiration dates that referenced an entry on our site.  The original poster in the discussion rightly tried to raise awareness of the expiration date issue and pointed readers in the right direction for correct information.

In the next comment, a different poster said that her specific car seat was manufactured at a certain date and was good for 10 years.  She then said

Daily Candy: Any questions?

Welcome to all the Daily Candy readers! We have received quite a bit of traffic today and wanted to provide some quick answers to common questions about our services. Please click on "JUST THE FACTS" to find out about scheduling and pricing or for detailed descriptions, click on  "FAMILY SERVICES". Thanks.

When does a recall help a car seat maker?

Today, Evenflo issued a voluntary recall of over 1 million seats.  Why? Because it makes sense. If your product doesn't do what you say it does, we need to know. The best way to do that is to be as clear and open as possible to make sure parents get the message. Lives are at stake.

This definition is from the Evenflo site:

"What is a Safety Campaign or Recall?
Safety campaigns call the consumer's attention to products that need to be repaired, modified or replaced after the manufacturing process. Many times, a simple replacement part may be necessary to improve performance of the product.

It's important to us that you have the latest news about products or accessories, so we provide a list of current and past safety campaigns for Evenflo products."

By addressing the issue aggressively, your brand will be protected. Then again, if your mission is damage control, you will most likely become an example of what not to do.

A recall will have an impact on the bottom line, but for the right reasons and only temporarily. Britax had 4 recalls last year (Marathon, Decathon, Boulevard, Regent) and is more popular than ever. Why? Because we trust them.

Recaro Como Announcement: Part Two, Commentary

Over the last year, we have become increasingly disturbed by the conduct of car seat manufacturers when faced with a possible recall. On the 20th of December, Recaro North America issued a "Consumer Advisory" for the Recaro Como child seat. We are amazed at how poorly they have addressed the issue.

Back Story: Recaro provides robust construction, side-impact protection and style. You pay for those features, but what you get when properly installed, is a safe seat. They have some downsides, but in general, they have a good product and good reputation. That they may have to issue a recall is not a shocker. Every manufacturer eventually has recalls. When handled well they improve the brand, not hurt it.

The following references seatbelt installations not LATCH installations. If you are using LATCH you should not be concerned about the "lock-off" issue being addressed. 

Safety Squad works with all types of seats and installations. It's not uncommon for us to install one seat four or more different ways in one vehicle to find the best position. We deal with lock-offs every day and often call manufacturers when something is unclear; if we don't understand...then parents definitely won't. Car seat makers installed lock-offs on seats as a supplement or alternative to locking devices built into vehicles (locking retractors, locking latch plates, etc). Many of the errors parents make when installing seats with seatbelts can be related to locking difficulties. So, car seat makers added lock-offs to make it easier. When a lock-off is used instead of a switchable retractor or latch plate and the lock-off fails the seat will loosen.

Safety Belts & School Buses

Currently school bus transportation is the safest form of ground transportation available. School buses are nearly 8 times safer than passenger vehicles.  There are several reasons for this:

• School buses are larger and heavier than normal passenger cars.
• Besides being big, they are also easier to see because of their color.
• School buses also must meet tougher safety standards than passenger cars.
• The smaller buses (under 10,000 pounds) are equipped with lap belts.  These buses should be used for transporting pre-school age children so that the kids can be correctly protected in their child restraint.

On the larger buses, compartmentalization is used to protect the occupants.  Compartmentalization uses the concept of eggs in a carton.  This means that seats on school buses must have high, energy absorbing seat backs that are flexible.  The combination of energy-absorbent seats and narrow spacing creates a compartment within which each occupant is confined in a crash.

While neither compartmentalization nor the belts are perfect, they currently offer the best options for protection on school buses.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, fewer than eight passengers die in school bus crashes every year, even though 474,000 school buses carry 25.1 million children more than 4.8 billion miles annually.  That’s a small percentage of people killed, but remember, each of those deaths represents 100% of someone’s child.

The federal government recently announced a new proposal to make school buses safer by requiring higher seat backs and setting new safety belt standards for school buses.  If the proposal is adopted it would mean increased protection on all new buses by improving on the compartmentalization concept.  On the smaller buses, lap-shoulder belts would be required instead of a lap belt only.  The proposal also allows school districts to use federal highway safety funds to cover the additional cost of equipping buses with seat belts.

Additional steps can be taken such as improved school bus driver training and monitors on the buses but this new proposal is a step in the right direction.  As technology improves and new innovations are introduced, highway safety in general, and safe school bus transportation specifically will get better.

4 Years & 40 Pounds: Fact or Fiction?

A couple of months ago, I had a conversation with an official about the "4 year & 40lbs" rule. This is the  phrase used to indicate when children can move to boosters from a 5-point harness. We had heard it many times, in many ways, by many people. The reason I asked was that we had never seen it written anywhere. I'm sure it's written somewhere, maybe in an old edition of some book, but is it a message that should be repeated?

In the current climate, it doesn't make any sense. While techs and reps are encouraging higher weight forward-facing seats, they are also telling parents not to move into boosters until "at least 4 years & 40lbs". Isn't that the age and weight we find so many poorly fitted children?

The recent ABC Story on the benefit of higher-capacity forward-facing seats, which was well done, mentioned this common, but misleading phrase too. Where did they get that information?

Why not say, "5 & 50" or "6 & 60" before moving to booster seat? "5 & 55" has a nice ring too. Any one of these would make more sense and be more consistent with the current message to stay in a 5-point harness longer.

Britney Spears and Car Seats

Britney Spears has been flamed in the media again. A few days ago, photos of Britney's not yet, 1 year old son Jayden, began circulating on the internet. Pictures show her younger boy forward-facing in his car seat. A shocked and chagrined public took this opportunity to engage, yet again, in the national pastime of criticizing Britney's parenting skills.  But, before the Britney bashing reaches a fiery crescendo consider this.

96% of parents nationally think their child's car seat is installed correctly. The reality is that 82% have it installed wrong.

Should Britney have her younger baby's car seat installed rear-facing? Absolutely. Here are the rules.  However, most parents in this country have their children's seats installed incorrectly too. It's a problem we all share, whether we're celebrities or not.

And Britney, Safety Squad is in Vegas this weekend.  Give us a buzz after the MTV awards let out and we'll give you a hand with Jayden and Sean's car seats.