I recently read an article on Yahoo News regarding testing that was conducted by Consumer Reports on child safety seats. Having recently written an article on child safety seats myself it sparked my interest. What I found in the article was astounding.

According to the article Consumer Reports was testing baby seats in order to make their recommendations and rank the seats in quality, safety, price, etc. For those not familiar with Consumer Reports, they test and evaluate all sorts of products and services in order to make recommendations on the best buys and best quality.

In this particular case they were testing and evaluating child safety seats. 12 seats were tested using 35 and 38 mph crashes. The sad news is that most of the child safety seats failed. Only two of the safety seats passed the test, those were the Baby Trend Flex Loc and the Graco SnugRide . The safety seats that failed either rotated on their base too far, flew off the base entirely, and in one case the dummy in the seat was flung 30 feet. As a result of the testing Consumer Reports has suggested a recall of the Evenflo Discovery infant seat.

The manufacturers have responded by saying that all their seats have passed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s testing, which requires that an infant seat perform adequately in a 30 mph front crash test. The Consumer Reports testing was done using 35 mph front crash tests and 38 mph side crash tests.

I will certainly be doing some extra research when it comes time for me to purchase an infant safety seat and I would certainly recommend that you do the same. The safety of your child is of the utmost importance, be sure the safety seat you purchase actually is safe.

UPDATE 1/19/2007: This morning I was watching the Today Show, they reported on an update to this story. Consumer Reports is now retracting their report and testing done on infant car seats. Apparently when the testing was reviewed by the government it was determined that the crash tests were actually done at about double the speed reported, more like 70 mph than 38 mph. According to the government review all of the infant seats tested were considered safe.

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