A recent article in the Chicago Tribune blasts the government for failing parents and kids when it comes to safety standards and crash testing for children’s car seats.

Posted by Angi

The concept defies logic because, after all, the 40-year campaign for safety seats has been about protecting our children in the event of a crash. But the article follows a Tribune investigation of 2008 model year frontal crash tests, during which 31 of 66 children’s car seats flew off their bases or exceeded allowable injury limits. This alarming data was included in thousands of pages of test data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), but it wasn’t specifically publicized. Why? Well, technically, the crash tests were evaluating the vehicles, not the car seats.

Before a car seat can be sold, it must pass a crash test on a bench sled that simulates a 30-mph, head-on collision.  They are not tested in real cars, and they’re aren’t tested for side-impact crashes. In the test results the Tribune analyzed, they weren’t even tested at the same speed: The vehicle crash tests were conducted at 35 mph into a wall.

Common sense tells you it’s nearly impossible to predict the damage from a real-world crash with tests that don’t use real vehicles. In fact, the Tribune found higher injury ratings in the vehicle crash tests when the baby dummy’s head hit the back of the vehicle’s front seats. The sled tests would not predict such injuries because there’s nothing to hit. The bench test doesn’t use anything to replicate the front seat.

Interestingly, in Europe, cars are rated specifically on how well (or how poorly) they protect children. In the United States, it’s not a factor. According to the Tribune, many child safety seats performed poorly even when they were tested in vehicles with five-star safety ratings, and ratings aren’t affected if a vehicle’s back seat breaks apart in a head-on collision.

If you want some comfort in all this, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has ordered a top-to-bottom review of child safety seat regulations and has ordered NHTSA to make crash test data more available to consumers. NHTSA also recalled the two worst performers on the crash test, and one child seat manufacturer has committed to a comprehensive overhaul of its evaluation system. NHTSA is also evaluating improvements for the sled tests, including possibly adding a front seat model.

Parents: What are your thoughts? What would make you feel safe—besides securing your young passengers in a protective bubble or full body armor?

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For another controversial look at the child seat debate, watch this interesting presentation from Steven Levitt author of Freakonomics. About 14:55 in, he advocates a different concept that has yet to take off. Watch now.

Vehicle owners now can be instantly informed about safety recalls under a new automated alert system that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) introduced in mid-November. You can receive recall alerts via e-mail or RSS feeds on personal computers, cell phones or PDA devices. The service is free, and you can choose to receive all vehicle recalls as they are made public or personalize the alerts to specific vehicles.

David Kelly, acting administrator of NHTSA, says that the new vehicle recall notification system is an expansion of the agency’s consumer safety communications program. Earlier this year, NHTSA also introduced automated recall alerts for child safety seats and tires.

NHTSA reports that there are about 600 vehicle recalls each year. About one in four motorists ignore these recalls when they are announced and fail to get their affected vehicles repaired, NHTSA says. Ignoring these recall notices can come at a high price: Some of these defects, if left unrepaired, could put you and your family at risk.

To start receiving NHTSA’s recall alerts, go to www.safercar.gov and select the “Email recall notifications” option.

You can now sign up to receive email notices for child seat and tire safety updates and recalls thanks to an effort by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters.

The hope is that email alerts will prompt more consumers to respond to recall campaigns. Typically, less than one-third of affected consumers respond to tire recalls and less than one-half respond to child seat recalls.

To register for the new service, go to www.safercar.gov and click on the “E-mail” or “RSS” option.

If you sign up for the email service, you should still register your safety seats and tires with the manufacturers, says James F. Ports Jr., deputy administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This can help manufacturers notify you of recalls more quickly and allows them to provide additional details and
instructions.

To register with the manufacturers from www.safercar.gov, click on the “Register your child restraint online” link.

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)