Comments on: Infant Car Seat Safety

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 02:29:05 +0000

Many thanks for this tip – showing us the only two that passed.

By: dad

dad — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 04:06:07 +0000

Yeah, it’s hard to say… As you’ve pointed out, this only applies to rear-facing infant seats that snap into a base. Our three oldest grew up in an Evenflo. Not sure of the model that we had, but the Evenflo Discovery that was included in this test didn’t even survive the federally mandated 30 mph test. Pretty scary.

For what it’s worth, we’ve never used the LATCH system. It’s all old-fashioned seat belts for us. I get them in absolutely rock solid, and it’s hard to imagine the one-piece seats having similar problems as long as they’re securely attached.

By: Baba

Baba — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 03:55:39 +0000

Yeah, parents have been emailing links to this CR article like crazy, it seems. Good! Something useful for once. Except, deciding what is safest has become confusing.

A few months ago someone brought to my attention this video about a car child seat tragedy: Importance of a 5-Point Harness Carseat. Its message: For a toddler or preschooler, a 5-point harness carseat with LATCH has an excellent chance of preventing such a tragedy.

I was ready to buy the Britax Regent for my 4 year old (about to outgrow his toddler carseat), but there was a run on these seats. Most places had them on backorder.

So I’ve waited and now CR comes out with this. It makes me question the reliability of LATCH and the rigor of government testing standards. Further, they only did the new research (so far) on infant seats.

I have a lot of faith in CR and they’ve never tested the Britax Regent. So now what?

I think I’ve found a compromise position and will probably get the Britax Marathon. My son won’t be in it as long, but at least CR tested it.