[Quiet Lunatic]

Chrysler Group Statement on Child Safety Seats

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-05-2007/0004500539&EDATE=


AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Recent news has focused on the safety of children while traveling in automobiles. - Research shows seven out of 10 kids in child safety seats are not properly buckled in and a properly installed safety seat has been proven to reduce fatal injury by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers, ages 1-4. -

DaimlerChrysler's SeatCheck program provides parents and caregivers with access to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) comprehensive child passenger safety seat inspector locater database. - By logging onto http://www.seatcheck.org or calling 1-866-SeatCheck, parents can learn about child passenger safety and where to have their child's seat inspected. The following statement can be attributed to Deborah Morrissett - VicePresident - Regulatory Affairs, Chrysler Group: "Child passenger safety seat inspections are simple and can help save achild's life. DaimlerChrysler encourages parents to visit http://www.seatcheck.orgor call 1-866-SEATCHECK to learn how and where to have their child's safetyseat inspected for proper fit and use.

SeatCheck provides parents and caregivers with access to the most comprehensive list of certified child passenger safety seat instructors inthe country in both English and Spanish. With an all-new Web site, SeatCheck also offers a variety of childpassenger safety resources, including state law look-up and current list of manufacturer recalled child safety seats."

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-05-2007/0004500539&EDATE=s

Chrysler Group

 

[Quiet Lunatic]

Magazine's car seat findings withdrawn

Magazine's car seat findings withdrawn



By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press WriterThu Jan 18, 6:10 PM ET


Consumer Reports was forced on Thursday to retract a damning report on infant car seats after the federal government said test crashes on the seats were conducted at drastically higher speeds than the magazine had claimed.
The revelation amounts to an embarrasment for the trusted consumer guide, and a relief to parents who were frightened about their babies' safety after the original report came out.

That report said most of the seats tested "failed disastrously" in crashes at speeds as low as 35 mph. In one test, it said, a dummy child was hurled 30 feet.

But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said some of the crash tests were conducted under conditions that would represent being struck at more than 70 mph.

"Consumer Reports was right to withdraw its infant car seat test report and I appreciate that they have taken this corrective action," said NHTSA administrator Nicole Nason. "I was troubled by the report because it frightened parents and could have discouraged them from using car seats."

In an interview, Nason said more than 100 worried parents had called the agency's hotline on the evening the original report was released.
Phil Haseltine, executive director of the National Safety Council's Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign, said the report had raised doubts among many parents about their car seats despite the "very rigorous standard at NHTSA."
"I think it's going to take a substantial educational effort to undo that damage," said Haseltine, whose organization was created through a partnership of automakers, insurance companies and safety groups.
Consumer Reports said it would review its study, retest the car seats and publish a new article as soon as possible.

In a statement Thursday, Consumer Reports said it had received information from the NHTSA "concerning the speed at which our side-impact tests were conducted" — supposedly, 38 mph. Consumer Reports spokesman Ken Weine said new information from the federal agency showed that the speeds were higher.

The Yonkers-based magazine tested the type of infant car seat that faces the rear and snaps in and out of a base. It found only two of the 12 seats worth recommending, and it urged a federal recall of one seat, the Evenflo Discovery. Evenflo had immediately disputed the tests' validity.
However, Weine said a recall was still being urged for the Discovery and for another seat that was judged unacceptable because it did not fit well in several cars. Evenflo Co. said Thursday that it had run 17 tests on randomly purchased Discovery seats in the last week and the seat passed federal standards each time.

The original report found that all the car seats except the Discovery performed adequately in 30 mph frontal crashes, which is the standard for seats sold in the United States. But it noted that cars are tested by federal regulators at higher speeds — 35 mph for frontal crashes and 38 mph for side crashes — so the magazine said it tested the seats at those speeds.
"When NHTSA tested the same child seats in conditions representing the 38.5 mph conditions claimed by Consumer Reports, the seats stayed in their bases as they should, instead of failing dramatically," Nason said.

Consumer Reports' Don Mays, a product safety director, said at the time, "It's unconscionable that infant seats, which are designed to protect the most vulnerable children, aren't routinely tested the same as new cars."
In the 35-mph frontal test, seats separated from their bases, rotated too far or would have inflicted grave injuries, Consumer Reports said. At 38 mph, four seats flew out of their bases following side impact, it said.
Weine said Thursday there was no information casting doubt on the 35 mph crashes.

He said an internal investigation was under way and he could not yet say how the test may have gone wrong, or who, if anyone, was to blame.
"This is very early," he said. "We found this information out very recently and as soon as we did we wanted to take the most important step which is openly communicating with consumers."

The magazine asked its readers and others who may have learned of the tests "to remember that use of any child seat is safer than no child seat, but to suspend judgment on the merits of individual products until the new testing has been completed and the report republished."
Consumer Reports, published by Consumers Union, has a reputation for objectivity that it backs by refusing any advertising and by refusing to permit use of its reviews in others' advertising.

It does occasionally get challenged by manufacturers. In 2004, as part of a settlement of an 8-year-old lawsuit, Consumer Reports said that its finding about the Suzuki Samurai SUV — that it "easily rolls over in turns" — applied only to severe swerving turns on the test track.
___ Associated Press writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report from Washington.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070118/ap_on_bi_ge/infant_seats&printer=1

 

[TaninFeb14]

Chrysler Group Statement on Child Safety Seats

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-05-2007/0004500539&EDATE=


AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Recent news has focused on the safety of children while traveling in automobiles. - Research shows seven out of 10 kids in child safety seats are not properly buckled in and a properly installed safety seat has been proven to reduce fatal injury by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for toddlers, ages 1-4. -

DaimlerChrysler's SeatCheck program provides parents and caregivers with access to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) comprehensive child passenger safety seat inspector locater database. - By logging onto http://www.seatcheck.org or calling 1-866-SeatCheck, parents can learn about child passenger safety and where to have their child's seat inspected. The following statement can be attributed to Deborah Morrissett - VicePresident - Regulatory Affairs, Chrysler Group: "Child passenger safety seat inspections are simple and can help save achild's life. DaimlerChrysler encourages parents to visit http://www.seatcheck.orgor call 1-866-SEATCHECK to learn how and where to have their child's safetyseat inspected for proper fit and use.

SeatCheck provides parents and caregivers with access to the most comprehensive list of certified child passenger safety seat instructors inthe country in both English and Spanish. With an all-new Web site, SeatCheck also offers a variety of childpassenger safety resources, including state law look-up and current list of manufacturer recalled child safety seats."

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-05-2007/0004500539&EDATE=s

Chrysler Group

Is this Canadian or US? I am wanting to check into a few things with my car seat and anchoring properly in my Nitro but my local RCMP seem to know less than me so I was just wondering if anyone knew if these contact numbers were Canadian cuz they could be a start for me? thanks in advance for any imput.

 

[Waldorf]

sounds and reads like it's American safety organization. may not apply to other countries. call the number and let us know what they tell you.

 

[Quiet Lunatic]

Is this Canadian or US? I am wanting to check into a few things with my car seat and anchoring properly in my Nitro but my local RCMP seem to know less than me so I was just wondering if anyone knew if these contact numbers were Canadian cuz they could be a start for me? thanks in advance for any imput.

You might find this interesting TF14.


http://canadaonline.about.com/gi/dy.../www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/childsafety/menu.htm

 

[TaninFeb14]

You might find this interesting TF14.


http://canadaonline.about.com/gi/dy.../www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety/childsafety/menu.htm

Thanks for this Cndnlmey,
There was a public announcement on here regarding my one carseat that I didn't know about. I am just trying to figure out if I can anchor a 2nd carrier in the middle or if I have to put it behind the drivers seat. I am gonna try my local health unit and the number on here and see. Thanks for the start though.
Cheers!

 

[Quiet Lunatic]

Thanks for this Cndnlmey,
There was a public announcement on here regarding my one carseat that I didn't know about. I am just trying to figure out if I can anchor a 2nd carrier in the middle or if I have to put it behind the drivers seat. I am gonna try my local health unit and the number on here and see. Thanks for the start though.
Cheers!

Your welcome TF14....