SAFETY SQUAD BLOG

Alderman Wants Retailers to Carry Part of Car Seat Safety Burden

The Chicago City Council on Wednesday will consider a proposal aimed at getting parents expert help when it comes to wrestling the alligator that is a child car safety seat.

An estimated 83.9 percent of child car seats are not installed correctly, potentially exposing children to serious risk.

"The scary part about that is when parents are polled, 96 percent of parents think their car seat is in correctly," according to Steve Breden, a certified child passenger safety technician.

Those numbers inspired Ald. James Balcer (11th) to introduce an ordinance that would require any retailer selling child car seats to post an informational flyer with 20 feet of the car seat that is for sale. The flyer would provide parents with a phone number and a website where they can access a certified child passenger safety technician who can install a seat or answer questions about the process.

He said the legislation, which passed through subcommittee last week, would save frustration and lives.

"One thousand children are dying each year [and ]184,000 are injured. I felt something had to be done," he said.

But the measure is opposed by the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, which said the idea would put stores on a slippery slope.

"The concern we have is that somehow the responsibility for educating consumers on the proper way to install a car seat has fallen on the retailers," said IRMA Senior Counsel Tanya Triche. "So you can imagine a certain percentage of our store being taken up with 'educational' sort of signs. So that's an issue for us."

Balcer took IRMA to task upon hearing the comments.

"Shame on them. It's a slippery slope. Fine, let it keep sliding. Whatever it takes to save the lives of children, to prevent children from being injured -- I'm all for that," he said.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/business/chicago-car-seat-ordinance-95890004.html#ixzz0qJbfG8f9

Thoughts from Lifesavers 2010 in Philadelphia

Lifesavers 2010 is in the books.

First off, we're always thankful for the friends, colleagues and experts we spend time with at Lifesavers. You're crucial in shaping the message we deliver to parents about keeping children safe.  

Next, there were a few important themes we would like to highlight from this year's event. These represent emerging trends, needs and changes in philosophy relating to child passenger safety.  - We are starting to see real cooperation between retailers and CPS technicians in some cities.  This is important as stores are key places to capture parents' attention and deliver the much needed message of appropriate restraint usage.

Children benefit tremendously from police officers being car seat awareness trained. This is especially true in states which have laws addressing appropriate restraint use as opposed to just general use. Officers can't write tickets and save lives if they don't recognize misuse. 

Car seat law offender programs require clear goals. Appropriate measures must be enacted to achieve those goals. Car seat laws are useless if they are not enforced. Violators habits remain the same if they have no incentive to change.

Safety 1st Vantage Investigation on NBC

 As part of this NBC Report, Safety Squad's Tom McQueen Investigated the seats in question:

A Chicago father's home video that apparently shows the failure of multiple child safety seats is getting some high-level attention.

Initially, Bryan Dussault said he wasn't surprised when he took a call last fall from his mother-in-law, who reported having difficulty with one of the straps on the Safety First Vantage Booster Car Seat, made by Dorel Juvenile Group of Columbus, Indiana.

That changed when he inspected the seat himself and found that it was impossible to secure a child in the seat because the strap wouldn't hold.

"I had a little bit of a tough time with the strap. Ultimately, I got it adjusted, but then was able to pull the harness loose without touching the levers again. That told me something was really wrong," Dussault said.

Making matters worse, he was able to duplicate the problem on another car seat of the same make and model that was in his own car.

Rear-facing now even hotter! "Rear-facing until 2" New advice surfaces from the AAP.

Car seat techs usually have a difficult time convincing parents to stay rear-facing longer. When children reach the traditional bare minimum of "20 lbs & 1 year" which the AAP has recommended for years, parents often rush to turn baby forward. There are many reasons why parents want baby to be forward-facing, but few trump being 5x safer.

That AAP's recommendation that starts with "1 & 20" went on "..use the seat rear-facing to the highest weight allowed..". This part was widely ignored by parents.

Furthermore, it wasn't clear that the AAP actually meant the rear-facing max of the convertible seat, not the infant carrier.   The result was that parents using carriers that maxed out at 22 lbs were more likely to move forward-facing sooner, because they had out grown the highest weight of their seat and also reached the 1 & 20 recommendation.

ODI: The essential online resource for parents!

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. 

Click away!

JPMA Responds to the Chicago Tribune Article

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.”

Thoughts from a concerned reader or "What should parents do now?"

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...

NHTSA's Statement in the Wake of the Chicago Tribune Article

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...

Safety Squad on NBC: More reaction to the Chicago Tribune article

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.

Here is a great online resource to help you get your seat registered and check it for recalls. We use it a lot. You can check your car for recalls there as well.

Safe Kids Response to the Tribune Article

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.
• All children under 13 should ride in a backseat.

NHTSA Statement on Review of Federal Standards for Child Safety Seat