Consumer Reports Has Infant Car Seat Recommendations
If you’re using an infant car seat or are in the market for one, Consumer Reports has some important information for you.
Cars and car seats can’t be sold unless they can withstand a 30-mph frontal crash. But most cars are also tested in a 35-mph frontal crash and in a 38-mph side crash. Car seats aren’t.
When we crash-tested infant car seats at the higher speeds vehicles routinely withstand, most failed disastrously. The car seats twisted violently or flew off their bases, in one case hurling a test dummy 30 feet across the lab.
The punchline: of the twelve seats they tested, only the Baby Trend Flex-Loc and the Graco SnugRide with EPS performed adequately. In addition, they found problems with some seats and cars’ LATCH system for securing car seats.
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Comment by Geof F. Morris
I was going to ask you if you’d seen this, and if it was behind the paywall, well …
Posted on January 5, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Comment by Jonathan Creekmore
Thanks for the heads up. Bookmarked.
Posted on January 5, 2007 at 10:41 pm
Comment by Aaron
You’d be interested in the take of the Freakonomics authors on it: http://www.freakonomics.com/times0710col.php
Posted on January 5, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Comment by Aaron
And their more recent post, responding to the consumer reports article: http://www.freakonomics.com/blog/2007/01/05/we-are-not-the-only-ones-who-think-child-car-seats-dont-work-well/
Posted on January 5, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Comment by Stephen
I had seen the first Freakonomics post, but not the second. Note that Levitt and Dubner don’t suggest that you shouldn’t use a car seat for kids under 2, which is the age range for the car seats discussed in the Consumer Reports study:
Also, as Edmunds pointed out, Levitt’s and Dubner’s data hasn’t gone through peer review. I find their analysis interesting but not enough to draw a conclusion from. I am bemused that their latest response was entitled, “We Are Not the Only Ones Who Think Child Car Seats Don’t Work Well” whereas their earlier claims boiled down to “specially modified seat belts (which do not currently exist) would work as well as car seats.”
Posted on January 5, 2007 at 11:35 pm
Comment by Geof F. Morris
I think the Levitt is simply taking the traditional economist’s view, which is if the extra expenditure doesn’t provide value, it is a waste and could be re-directed. I’m not sure that this is well-articulated, though.
Also, yes … I was disappointed that they made the claims about the special seat-belts without commissioning anything on them. What they’ve done is highlight a potential problem, but their “solution” is wholly untested. Granted, I may be a bit biased here, but if you’ve not tested your solution, you can’t claim much of anything about it.
[I'm also a bit miffed at the test engineer who didn't want to test anything. What the hell? Most test engineers I know live to break stuff and bust up people's hypotheses.]
Posted on January 6, 2007 at 10:12 am
Comment by Limax
Both my kids are in boosters these days using the seat belts in the car. I’m wondering what we would have done if we had seen that when our kids were smaller. It’s a very scary prospect. I saw an ad recently that the ‘magic’ height is 4′9″ for no booster/car seat. I’m guessing my daughter will be there in another year or so.
Posted on January 7, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Comment by Jessica
http://www.cnn.com/2007/AUTOS/01/18/car_seat/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Consumer reports has recalled that study and will release a new report sometime.
Posted on January 18, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Comment by David Hoffman
In Jaunary of 2007, Consumer Report (CR) withdrawn its recent report on infant carseats. The reason? CR claimed that 10 of 12 infant carseats are not safe, and actually recommended the recall of one particular carseat.
Posted on October 15, 2007 at 11:19 pm