How Safe Is That Car Seat?

by Editors | Comments

Most parents dread taking their little ones on car trips because of the likelihood that they'll yell, scream and just generally throw temper tantrums until you can pull over, unbuckle them and take them out.

(I try to stave off toddler road rage by keeping a basket of small toys and books next to the driver's seat, so I can fork over an entertaining item every 30 seconds or so until my daughter gets bored with it and tosses it on the floor. This one-woman entertainment-committee act usually gets us maybe three-quarters of the way to our destination.)

But according to a new study from Consumer Reports, there's another reason to dread putting your tot in a vehicle—it just might be endangering her life.

The study found that most infant car seats fail safety tests more stringent than the current government standard tests for cars. No car seat can be sold in the U.S. unless it can sustain a 30-mile-an-hour head-on crash; however, cars themselves are tested to withstand 38-mile-an-hour head-on crashes and 35-mile-an-hour side crashes, meaning that the car is built to withstand a greater impact than your baby's car seat.

Instead of being the most protected passenger in the car, the baby can be the most at-risk. The study found that side-impact car crashes were particularly dangerous. In some cases the seats even twisted off their bases, and in one test, a dummy flew 30 feet across the lab. Only two brands met the higher standard—the Graco Snug Ride with EPS and the Baby Trend Flex-Loc.

Disturbed by the results of this study? Here's what you can do about it: Contact your representatives and ask them to review car seat safety standards. Contact car seat manufacturers to ask them to raise their standards.

Poll: How Do You Feel About the Safety of Infant Car Seats?