Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com Autoblog http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[IIHS says most LATCH systems are too difficult to use [w/video]]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2012/04/12/iihs-says-most-latch-systems-are-too-difficult-to-use-w-video/http://www.autoblog.com/2012/04/12/iihs-says-most-latch-systems-are-too-difficult-to-use-w-video/http://www.autoblog.com/2012/04/12/iihs-says-most-latch-systems-are-too-difficult-to-use-w-video/#commentsFiled under:

IIHS says most LATCH systems are too difficult to use

If you've ever tried installing an infant car seat in say, a Jaguar XKR, you understand that just because a car has LATCH anchors doesn't mean your car seat is going to fit. Those anchors are supposed to make child restraint installation a breeze, but according to a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, many automakers aren't following the spirit of the law requiring them.

The study looked at the 98 top-selling vehicles from 2010-2011 and found just 21 that met its criteria for having "easy-to-use" LATCH hardware. Making the list were the Audi A4; Cadillac Escalade; Chevrolet Equinox, Silverado, Suburban and Tahoe; Chrysler Town & Country; Dodge Caliber, Grand Caravan and Ram; Ford Escape and F-150; GMC Sierra; Honda Pilot; Kia Sedona; Land Rover Range Rover Sport; Mercedes-Benz C-Class and E-Class; Mitsubishi Eclipse and Lancer; and Toyota Tacoma.

The researchers used a test fixture that adhered to guidelines developed by the Society of Automotive Engineers to develop three criteria for evaluation. The first was having anchors that were easy to see and not buried beneath rear seat cushions. The second was having the LATCH attachment points unobstructed by seatbelts, foam or other parts of the seat. The third was that adults could correctly install the seats using less than 40 pounds of force.

While the study found that the majority of models didn't nail all three criteria, the list of vehicles that didn't meet any of them was much shorter: Buick Enclave; Chevrolet Impala; Dodge Avenger; Ford Flex and Taurus; Hyundai Sonata; and Toyota Sienna.

Scroll down to see a video about LATCH and read the full release from IIHS.

Continue reading IIHS says most LATCH systems are too difficult to use [w/video]

IIHS says most LATCH systems are too difficult to use [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>car seatcar seatschild restraintsiihsinfant car seatinfant car seatsinsurance institute for highway safetylatchumtriuniversity of michiganuniversity of michigan transportation research instituteThu, 12 Apr 2012 14:15:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/20214204/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2012/04/12/iihs-says-most-latch-systems-are-too-difficult-to-use-w-video/20214204/article-detail.xml 20214204 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2012/04/iihs-latch-opt_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2012/04/iihs-latch-opt.jpg <![CDATA[Record number of booster seats earn highest rating from IIHS]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2011/10/13/record-number-of-booster-seats-earn-highest-rating-from-iihs/http://www.autoblog.com/2011/10/13/record-number-of-booster-seats-earn-highest-rating-from-iihs/http://www.autoblog.com/2011/10/13/record-number-of-booster-seats-earn-highest-rating-from-iihs/#commentsFiled under:



Ah, booster seats, the last removable throne before children earn the privilege of sitting their butts directly on a car's seat, which they'll then refuse to do until the day they turn 16 and start driving themselves. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety began testing booster seats back in 2008, and this year's lot has produced a record number of BEST BETS designations, the highest rating the IIHS bestows upon a booster seat.

A booster seat is used when a child has outgrown a typical car seat, usually between the ages of four and eight, until reaching a height of 4 foot, 9 inches tall. Unlike car seats, they are not anchored down, not meant to provide crash protection, and only elevate a child so that a vehicle's lap and shoulder belts, which are meant for adults, lay flat across the upper thighs and cross snuggly over the middle of the shoulder. There are also two kinds of booster seats: highback and backless.

The IIHS tested 62 booster seats in its latest evaluation, or 83 total if you count the dual mode seats that can be converted from highback to backless. A record 31 seats were given the highest BEST BETS designation, which means they're able to correctly position a vehicle's safety belt on a child in almost any car, minivan or SUV. Another five received a GOOD BETS designation, meaning they provide an acceptable fit, and six were not recommended at all for providing an improper fit. The biggest group of the bunch, however, fall into a fourth category called "check fit," which means they may provide good belt positioning on some children in some vehicles, but parents are warned to check first with their own child and vehicle to make sure first.

IIHS reports that Canadian-based Harmony Juvenile Products is the lone standout company of the bunch, with all five of its products being named BEST BETS and the Harmany Dreamtime, which can be had for about $50 at Walmart, being the only seat tested to earn the highest rating in both highback and backless mode.

Continue reading Record number of booster seats earn highest rating from IIHS

Record number of booster seats earn highest rating from IIHS originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>best betsbooster seatscar seatsiihsinsurance institute for highway safetyThu, 13 Oct 2011 18:15:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/20080877/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2011/10/13/record-number-of-booster-seats-earn-highest-rating-from-iihs/20080877/article-detail.xml 20080877 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/10/crmeasureall-41-opt_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/10/crmeasureall-41-opt.jpg <![CDATA[Toxic chemicals found in over half of children's car seats]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2011/08/07/toxic-chemicals-found-in-over-half-of-childrens-car-seats/http://www.autoblog.com/2011/08/07/toxic-chemicals-found-in-over-half-of-childrens-car-seats/http://www.autoblog.com/2011/08/07/toxic-chemicals-found-in-over-half-of-childrens-car-seats/#commentsFiled under:

Child Seat

Car seats are undoubtedly a must-have if you want to keep your child safe in the car. Yet, as with so many other things, they can hide surprises that you might want your child to avoid. In this case the surprise is chemicals that, according to HealthyStuff.org, possess "known toxicity, persistence, and tendency to build up in people and the environment." They include bromine, chlorine and lead, among others.

Some of the seatmakers, such as Graco, earned spots on both the best and worst lists. Although the best and worst performers in the tests earn a numerical score, the tests don't indicate the exact amount of the detected chemicals. Things have gotten better, though, with average car seat rankings improving by 64 percent since 2008.

You can find the press release with more details after the jump, and all of the tested seats ranked here.

Continue reading Toxic chemicals found in over half of children's car seats

Toxic chemicals found in over half of children's car seats originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 07 Aug 2011 12:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>babiesbooster seatscar seatcar seatschemicalschildrenhealthystuff.orgkidssafetySun, 07 Aug 2011 12:03:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/20011426/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2011/08/07/toxic-chemicals-found-in-over-half-of-childrens-car-seats/20011426/article-detail.xml 20011426 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/08/carseattoxicitystudy_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/08/carseattoxicitystudy.jpg <![CDATA[How government safety standards for car seats fail large children]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2011/03/18/how-government-safety-standards-for-car-seats-fail-large-childre/http://www.autoblog.com/2011/03/18/how-government-safety-standards-for-car-seats-fail-large-childre/http://www.autoblog.com/2011/03/18/how-government-safety-standards-for-car-seats-fail-large-childre/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Every parent does his or her best to keep their children safe. Car seats are a big part of that equation, and snapping our little cherubs into a five-point harness makes us feel like we've done our very best to care for our precious offspring. But are we really?

If you assume there's strict federal federal standards for child safety and booster seats to conform to, you might be surprised at just how little oversight there actually is. In fact, kids weighing more than 65 pounds - which means younger and younger kids as childhood obesity rates ratchet up - sit on boosters with no government safety standards. Seats for younger young'uns are only held to a front-end collision standard. The physics of a car crash act in different ways on the bodies of children than they do on their full-grown counterparts - kids are not simply scaled-down adults.

According to The Washington Post, part of the problem is that a crash-test dummy that mimics a child's physiology is far behind schedule. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was supposed to have a dummy ready by 2004 to simulate a 10-year-old, as part of Anton's Law, a bit of legislation that went into effect in 2002. That dummy is still not right, and that leaves child seat manufacturers to self-regulate their products and to recall reactively when problems crop up, instead of conforming to guidelines that protect all children in front, side, rear-end and rollover accidents.

[Source: The Washington Post | Image: U.S. Department of Transportation via CC 2.0]

How government safety standards for car seats fail large children originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>antons lawbooster seatscar seatschild booster seatschild safety seatcrash test dummiesnhtsaFri, 18 Mar 2011 16:30:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/19878172/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2011/03/18/how-government-safety-standards-for-car-seats-fail-large-childre/19878172/article-detail.xml 19878172 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/03/crashtestfamily_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/03/crashtestfamily.jpg <![CDATA[Followup: NHTSA to allow vehicle-specific child seats after all?]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/27/followup-nhtsa-to-allow-vehicle-specific-child-seats-after-all/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/27/followup-nhtsa-to-allow-vehicle-specific-child-seats-after-all/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/04/27/followup-nhtsa-to-allow-vehicle-specific-child-seats-after-all/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Last week Volvo announced a range of car seats designed with Britax specifically for Volvo cars. The same announcement also stated the seats wouldn't be for sale in the U.S. because NHTSA doesn't allow the sale of car seats only meant for specific cars. In our reader poll of your opinion, more than 80% of you declared the feds universal child seat mandate wrong.

Could it be a coincidence that today, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood wrote, "NHTSA will ... institute a new program to make it easier for parents to choose child safety seats for their specific vehicles"?

LaHood had ordered a review of child seat policy and the new program is part of the review findings. Although the program isn't specifically geared toward Volvo's development, it provides that "Manufacturers will recommend specific seats in various price ranges that work best for individual vehicles." The DoT is aiming for a start date in 2011. Hat tip to JM

[Source: U.S. DoT]

Followup: NHTSA to allow vehicle-specific child seats after all? originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>babybjornbooster seatsBoosterSeatsbritaxcar seatsCarSeatschild seatsChildSeatsdepartment of transportationDepartmentOfTransportationdotinfantinfant car seatsInfantCarSeatsmaclarenmedelanational highway traffic safety administrationNationalHighwayTrafficSafetyAdministrationnhtsapeg pereloPegPerelosafetyvolvoMon, 27 Apr 2009 17:01:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/1529399/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2009/04/27/followup-nhtsa-to-allow-vehicle-specific-child-seats-after-all/1529399/article-detail.xml 1529399 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/04/volvo_britax_dot_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/04/volvo_britax_dot.jpg <![CDATA[NHTSA in hot seat after troubling baby car seat tests found]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/03/nhtsa-in-hot-seat-after-troubling-baby-car-seat-tests-found/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/03/nhtsa-in-hot-seat-after-troubling-baby-car-seat-tests-found/http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/03/nhtsa-in-hot-seat-after-troubling-baby-car-seat-tests-found/#commentsFiled under: , ,



The Chicago Tribune is shaking a rattle at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Its investigation has found 31 cases of infant seats exceeding injury limits or disconnecting from their bases during federal vehicle frontal impact crash tests. The NHTSA slams countless cars into barriers each year, like the 2008 Dodge Caravan in the gallery below. In addition to the sensor-laden crash dummies, some of the vehicles are also fitted with infant or child seats. According to the Tribune, the unreported child seat failures in those tests - crashes conducted only to test vehicle safety, not the safety of the child seats - has uncovered a serious flaw in infant/child seat testing.

In the United States today, infant seats are only tested on a sled. Before being sold, the seats must demonstrate the ability to survive a "simulated" head-on crash at 30 mph. On the other hand, the NHTSA crashes actual vehicles into a barrier at 35 mph (although it is only 5 mph faster, the impact is significantly greater). Sled tests are effective in some studies, but they fail to test the variables found among different vehicle interiors and the unique seat designs that change from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Responding to the Tribune report, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a written statement Friday that he ordered a "complete top to bottom review of child safety seat regulations." He will also make changes to make the crash-test results "more available" to consumers. Government crash test regulations have held automakers to the fire, and the result has been much safer vehicles for adults. Now it's time to bring infant/child seat manufacturers to the same flame and improve small occupant safety, as well.

Gallery: 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan Crash Tests


[Source: Freep, image by NHTSA]

NHTSA in hot seat after troubling baby car seat tests found originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Car seatsCarSeatschild seatsChildSeatscrash testCrashTestinfant seatsInfantSeatsnational highway tra...national highway traffic safety administrationnational highway transportation safety administrationNationalHighwayTra...NationalHighwayTrafficSafetyAdministrationNationalHighwayTransportationSafetyAdministrationNHTSAregulationsrulessled testSledTestTue, 03 Mar 2009 14:19:00 EST http://www.autoblog.com/feed/1475418/article-comments.xml http://www.autoblog.com/feed/2009/03/03/nhtsa-in-hot-seat-after-troubling-baby-car-seat-tests-found/1475418/article-detail.xml 1475418 http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/03/infant_sled_thumbnail.jpg http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/03/infant_sled.jpg <![CDATA[Consumer Reports names pair to review child seat tests]]>http://www.autoblog.com/2007/02/14/consumer-reports-names-pair-to-review-child-seats-tests/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/02/14/consumer-reports-names-pair-to-review-child-seats-tests/http://www.autoblog.com/2007/02/14/consumer-reports-names-pair-to-review-child-seats-tests/#commentsFiled under:


Consumer Reports has named two men to head up a review of its controversial child safety seat tests. About a month ago, Consumer Reports withdrew its headline-making analysis of child car safety seats. The tests at first seemed to indicate most seats were not adequate to protect children in side impacts. After criticism that the tests were faulty, the nonprofit group retracted the results.

Brian O'Neill and Dr. Kennerly H. Digges will review the test results to see what, if anything, was done improperly. O'Neill is a former president of the IIHS, while Digges was once the director of Vehicle Safety and Biomechanics at the NHTSA National Crash Analysis Center of George Washington University.

Consumers Union president Jim Guest said on CR's Web site, "Dr. Digges and Mr. O'Neill are among the nation's most respected experts on car safety issues. We are confident that they will conduct a thorough review of this incident and determine what went wrong."

There's no mention of any plans for retesting the seats, but one would assume if the initial tests were found to be more stressing than intended, the group would re-run the evaluations.

[Source: Consumer Reports]

Consumer Reports names pair to review child seat tests originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 14 Feb 2007 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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