A Chicago Tribune investigation has found evidence of many popular child safety seats failing when involved in a front end collision. Reports were found buried among thousands of pages of test reports on the safety of 2008 model year vehicles. The tests were conducted to test the safety of the vehicles and not the child safety seats which is why the reports weren't published and in many instances the manufacturers were not informed of the results. Nearly half of the seats tested were removed from the base and the infant propelled upside down and face-first into the front seat of the car; a serious and particularly fatal unreported manufacturing defect. Two seats were found to be flawed that they were recalled and the manufacturer has changed the way it evaluates its child safety seats.
Child safety seats are routinely tested on a sled bench which is supposed to simulate a head on collision. The NHTSA test videos show time and time again the infant's head striking the front seat of a car. The child safety seats are also not routinely tested in side-impact scenarios but they fail in those circumstances as well.
Fortunately the new U.S. Secretary of Transportation is taking measures to better regulate the safety of our children in car seats and make crash test reports more available to the public. Companies have already begun to install seats on the test sleds for a better measure of how the car seat will perform in an automobile. Consumer advocate groups are pushing for the Government to follow
Europe's testing standards and rate vehicles on the safety they provide specifically to children.For more on the Chicago Tribune Investigation and access to the test videos please visit this link.
