SAFETY SQUAD BLOG

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.

5 Questions with Josh of Baby Solutions

We'd like you to get to know Josh Berliant. He's the founder of Baby Solutions, Safety Squad's preferred childproofer since 2007. We sat down with him to deliver some childproofing basics to parents.

Safety Squad: When should parents begin thinking about childproofing?

Josh: It really is never too soon to begin the babyproofing process. Parents should start thinking about babyproofing even before they give birth to the child.  Its a great time to evaluate the safety of your home and furnishings, while you still have your sanity.  Waiting until your child begins to crawl is a mistake.

Safety Squad: What advice do you have for first time parents new to babyproofing?

Josh: Advice I would give new parents is that all products are not created equally.  Many of the products on the market can do more harm than good.  A professional can really help to ensure you are using quality products.

Have a fire alarm system? Okay good, now call 911.

Many people make assumptions about how they will, or should respond in a fire. One assumption is that if you have a built-in fire alarm system in your home, you don't have to call 911. This is not true.

If you have an automatic alarm system (and it's working), the system/service will notify the fire department that a detector in the home is activated. This will generate, in most jurisdictions, an automatic alarm response which is usually 1-2 vehicles (compared to 4+). Most automatic alarm calls are false alarms (for a number of reasons).  Usually, fire departments will respond with the same speed as a 911 "Report of Fire", but mentally many firefighters' first thought when they hear automatic alarm is "it's probably a false alarm".  As a result, the firefighters while responding quickly, often are not as mentally prepared to battle as they would be for 911 "Report of Fire". This is definitely true for me too.

I know that making assumptions about automatic alarms has killed many firefighters, but my experience also tells me that false alarms are extremely common.

Safety Squad suggests calling 911 always... either after you've escaped danger or if you're trapped.  First, You will at least double the number of firefighters responding (because 911 knows it's bonafide). Second, the firefighters responding to a "Report of Fire" assume it IS a fire and not a false alarm. Third, if you are trapped, you can communicate to 911 where you are, how many people are in the home and any information that may help firefighters find you.

When we know that people are trapped, the level of alarm escalates, our determination rises and given a place to look, we will walk through walls to find you.

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.

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.

Child Passenger Safety Techs: Who's the Best?

All National Certified Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Technicians complete the same basic 32-hour course. Their certification is valid for two years. Each CPS Tech is required to earn continuing education credits, conduct installation training and complete a refresher course to maintain certification.

Here are some questions you should ask a potential CPS Tech:

• Does he/she have a NHTSA/Safe Kids CPS Technician Number and Card?
• How often does the technician receive updates or continuing education?
• Does the technician have an up-to-date recall list?
• Who can the technician call for advice if problems or questions arise during the installation?
• Does he/she use a waiver/checklist during the installation?
• Is he/she insured as a CPS Technician?
   Does he/she utilize the 2007/09 LATCH Manual?

The more positive answers the better. In the best case, they can answer all questions to your satisfaction. The car seat industry changes daily. If your technician takes liability and continuing education seriously, then the instruction you receive will be accurate. You should leave a CPS Tech feeling empowered and educated, if not go someplace else. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

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.

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

Why is installation so hard?

Before you bought your car seat, you checked with friends, family, searched the web and decided on a seat that had great reviews and even scored well on the "Ease of Use" charts. There were so many choices, but you picked a Graco or Britax or maybe a Peg Perego, to name a few. So why after all that research is your car seat so hard to use?

The same is true when you bought your car or SUV. Saab, BMW, Lexus, Honda, Mercedes, Toyota and others score well in crash ratings and come packed with dozens of safety features, but when you try to install that great car seat into your great car it doesn't feel or fit right.

First of all, it's not you. You are a parent that has cared...