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Jan 18, 2007 6:09 pm US/Eastern
Consumer Reports Retracts Infant Car Seat Study
NTHSA Refutes Claim, Questions Testing Methods
by Kirstin Cole
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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Consumer Reports has retracted a study that said most infant car seats "failed disastrously" in crashes.
CBS
The report was released just two weeks ago, sending an urgent warning to parents about possible deadly consequences for choosing the wrong child safety seat. In tests conducted by the venerable Consumer's Union, which publishes the bible of all buying magazines --Consumer Reports, they warned of disastrous consequences when choosing the wrong seat.
The magazine wanted to mimic new guidelines being used in car crash safety tests.
"We tested at 35 mph but we also added a 38 mile per hour side crash," said Don Mays of Consumer Reports.
The results were dramatic, showing infant dummies and seats coming loose.
In all, 10 seats failed by tearing free of their bases and tethers, sometimes hurtling the infant dummy some 30 feet through the air. The magazine would only recommend two safety seats out of a dozen tested, and at the time urged a federal recall of one of them.
Yet when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration repeated the tests at 38 mph, they found all 12 passed and that Consumer Reports actually tested at more than 70 mph, double their standard.
Consumer Reports retracted that story after being advised that their methodology was flawed. Several of the car seat manufacturers at the time said they stood by the safety of their seats.
"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."
The magazine said it would review its study, retest the car seats and publish a new article as soon as possible.
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."
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
