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.

Used car prices bounce back slightly in January, February

Significant belt-tightening by those in the car-buying market is pushing prices upward for used vehicles even as millions of new vehicles sit on dealer lots unsold.

Prices on pre-owned automobiles have increased significantly in the past two months, according to Mannheim Consulting, a provider of used vehicle services.  February’s rise was 3.7%, which came on the heels of a 3.8% increase in January.

Some analysts have suggested that the rapid rise in wholesale used vehicle pricing is a precursor to an improvement in new vehicle sales and might also be a precursor to a recovery in the overall economy. More likely, the turnaround in wholesale used vehicle values is a necessary, but insufficient, condition for a better new vehicle market. That’s especially true given that the rise in vehicle auction pricing has been driven largely by a reduction in the number of  used cars coming into the market. New vehicle sales have declined by about 610,000 units in the first two months of 2009. Assuming a normal 60% trade-in rate to the selling dealer, that means 366,000 fewer units of potential used-vehicle inventory.

While used vehicle sales have begun to climb slightly, forecasters continue to predict lower new car sales for 2009. Interestingly, many dealers have seen potential new car buyers opting for used vehicles instead. And according to Mannheim, many of these clients could have afforded a new vehicle if they wanted one. This is evidenced by their large down payments and their acceptance of shorter loan periods, which bring the monthly payment on a used vehicle to within range of a new car payment.

Despite the price increases for the past two months, only compact cars and higher-end luxury cars are up over the past year. Prices for entry-level luxury cars are down more than the overall car market, while compact pickups and vans have been the two weakest segments during the past year.

Source: Mannheim Consulting