Consumer Reports: Child seat test faulty

[evok]

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A.../701190403/1148

Magazine retracts results because some test crashes were conducted at speeds higher than it reported.

David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau

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About the problem

What happened

Consumer Reports retracted its recent report on how infant car seats perform in side-impact collision tests.

Why it happened

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration contacted Consumer Reports and raised questions about the simulated vehicle speed used in the tests, which was reported to be 38 mph, the same speed the government uses for side-impact tests, but actually was much higher.

Why it matters

The seats may perform differently at different vehicle speeds.

What's next

Consumer Reports will retest the seats and issue a new report.

Sources: Consumer Reports, Detroit News research

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WASHINGTON -- Consumer Reports magazine retracted a report Thursday that condemned most infant car seats for disastrously failing its independent side-impact crash tests and pledged an internal review to explain what went wrong.

The findings, released Jan. 4 and published in the February issue, showed a test dummy infant flew 30 feet across the lab, a third of the seats flew out of their bases and just two of 12 seats tested performed well. The report shocked parents, prompting dozens of calls to the government and car seat makers.

Consumer Reports withdrew the report after federal officials said the actual speed of the tests was nearly twice as high as the magazine reported. The episode threatens to tarnish the magazine's image as an unbiased and accurate evaluator of vehicle safety and quality.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the government arm that regulates auto safety, said Thursday that its own tests showed side-impact tests conducted by an outside lab for Consumer Reports were actually in excess of 70 miles per hour -- far above the 38.5 mph cited by the magazine.

When NHTSA conducted its own 38.5 mph tests, all of the seats performed well. "They stayed in their bases as they should, instead of failing dramatically," NHTSA's administrator Nicole Nason said.

"Consumer Reports was right to withdraw its infant car seat test report and I appreciate that they have taken this corrective action," Nason said, adding she "was troubled by the report because it frightened parents and could have discouraged them from using car seats."

Magazine spokesman Ken Weine said the magazine would conduct "an internal review of all aspects of the story."

The Detroit News has learned that Consumer Reports used an established crash test lab, Calspan, based near Buffalo, N.Y., to conduct the child safety seat tests. The lab also does a significant amount of testing for NHTSA, although it doesn't test child seats for the government........

Now this was issued a couple weeks ago:

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650221338,00.html

Those deadly 'unsafety seats'

Deseret Morning News editorial

As it turns out, child safety car seats "fail disastrously," according to a recent report in Consumer Reports — even in fender-benders at 35 mph.

Unbelievable.

We wouldn't be surprised to learn that those car-seat companies also make safety nets from spaghetti for acrobats and safety goggles from cellophane. Yet even those would pale in comparison to putting the toddlers of America at risk. When a safety device is itself unsafe, the implications go well beyond irony.

Of the 12 seats tested, Consumer Reports could recommend only two — Baby Trend Flex-Loc and the Graco SnugRide. They sell for about $90 each. One small crash dummy was even hurled 30 feet after being carefully strapped into one of the bogus seats. Just the mental image of that should get companies scurrying to make things right.

or

Study Warns Parents: Buyer Beware

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For More Information

Child Seat Check

Consumer Reports Child and Booster Seat Ratings

story by: Courtney Gousman

EVANSVILLE - A newly released study done by Consumer Reports says there's a good chance the car seat your child is riding in, may not protect them. NEWS 25 took that new study to the local medical community for reaction.

Consumer Reports did safety tests on 12 infant seats. Only two of those seats came back with a stamp of approval.

The tests done by the company show Evenflo's Discovery model with the infant seat flying off its base. Consumer Reports claims this model even failed to meet Federal Government standards.

"We found actually quite a few failures. Most of the seats we tested did not perform well," says Don Mays of Consumer Reports.

The company says just because it's on the shelves, doesn't mean it's safe and you should be picky when picking a car seat.

The consumer reports tests show some of the seats that met Government standards will not protect your child in an accident. Federal Government guidelines mandate car seats pass a 30-mile per hour frontal crash.

Consumer reports tested 12 seats at 30 mph head on, and 38 mph in a side impact. Ten of the twelve seats performed poorly on the tests. An expert in child safety seats says this report should be taken with a grain of salt.

Edited January 19, 2007 by evok

[G. David Felt]

Yes another proof that Consumers reports has very little credibility in their testing. Truly alternative agendas exist at this magazine company.

[Flybrian]

Shows what a piss poor publication this rag really is.

[regfootball]

amazing. i need to grab a beer and start to party. first the tundra recall and now this. the eternal marraige of the clueless seems to be hitting some rough waters.

Child seats are a major concern of women, who are a lot of CR's loyal follower lemmings. The fact that CR botched a test on this particular product SHOULD if all is right in the world prove to be a major blow to their credibility. Like toyota however they will make up some crap and get let off the hook by the press.

this did make the first section of my local star and sickle however so maybe the media will grab this and go to the rack with it.

Edited January 20, 2007 by regfootball

[Mr.Krinkle]

Consuner Reports has flown too close to the sun...on wings of pastrami.

[evok]

Simply, CR f'ed up and they f'ed because of their incompetence resulting from their arrogance.

The IIHS is transparent.

The NHTSA by its nature has to be transparent.

CR because they are not transparent and forth coming and open for debate got caught with their pants down.

I hope the child seat manufacturers take CR to court and sues them for slander. What they did just was not RIGHT.

[Mr.Krinkle]

This is tantamount to screaming "fire" in a crowded movie theater. And in as much as you cant leave the hospital with a newborn without an approved car seat, the effects of this run deep. Nevermind the inherent concern for a child that most parents generally exhibit. A retraction will not assuage the guilt this could have put some concerned parents through.

This will raise some questions. The obvious one did they knowingly go to print with this. Car crashes arent even tested at these speeds.

just two of 12 seats tested performed well. The report shocked parents, prompting dozens of calls to the government and car seat makers.

What were the two seats and their relationship to the publication, CR.

Will the parents who read this try to seek some action against CR

What will happen to CR's credibility.

When you challenge the conventional wisdom and established methods of safety testing you had best be damned sure you know what the f@#k youre doing. This is totally unacceptable and needlessly alarmist.

The episode threatens to tarnish the magazine's image as an unbiased and accurate evaluator of vehicle safety and quality.

Edited January 21, 2007 by Mr.Krinkle

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

I hope they get sued as well...

This is certainly a MAJOR black eye for CR, even most of the media acknowledges that.

CR also mentioned that this was only the second time they've ever had to retract an article. I guess the Suzuki cases didn't count since they never had to "take back" anything. I can't remember if that issue was settled outside of court or what

[FAPTurbo]

From what I understand, they hired a private contractor to perform these tests. Now I was under the impression that all the tests were done in house, in their facilities.

I could swear I read in one of my old issues of CR that the editor was gloating about how everything is done in house. Chances are, the policy changed I guess. Perhaps if they did it in house, it may have been better scrutinized.

This is a quite a blow to their reputation, considering it seems many people consider them to be flawless, or close to that.

[Mr.Krinkle]

From what I understand, they hired a private contractor to perform these tests. Now I was under the impression that all the tests were done in house, in their facilities.

and that may be the same bs theyl use to dish it off to the next guy. Fact is they published it. two out of 12 c'mon! With a fail rate like that you should probably look at the result again. Maybe even cross check them...a few times.

and then once more.

d'oh.

[GXT]

It might have been intentional sensationalism to promote their agenda (like say, the link to this thread on the main page "Consumer Reports caught lying again"), or it might have been an honest mistake which they have taken action to correct.

I don't believe CR has ever claimed to conduct their own crash tests. And if a lab that does NHTSA testing says they did a crash at a certain speed it might take an NHTSA expert to be able to show that the speed was different. It does sound like there was some due diligence that was missed.

And why is this evidence of bias? Did the asian car seats do better than the US ones or something? :AH-HA_wink:

Edited January 22, 2007 by GXT

[Dragon]

It might have been intentional sensationalism to promote their agenda (like say, the link to this thread on the main page "Consumer Reports caught lying again"), or it might have been an honest mistake which they have taken action to correct.

I don't believe CR has ever claimed to conduct their own crash tests. And if a lab that does NHTSA testing says they did a crash at a certain speed it might take an NHTSA expert to be able to show that the speed was different. It does sound like there was some due diligence that was missed.

And why is this evidence of bias? Did the asian car seats do better than the US ones or something? :AH-HA_wink:

CR isn't the only one possibly guilty of intentional sensationalism it seems. I haven't seen any evidence that CR lied by intentionally publishing this report knowing the data was false.

[Sixty8panther]

"In house"

or

"at the Toyota Crash Test Fascilities"

or

"On a computer generated simmulation at Toyota H.Q."

What the hell is the differance!?

[evok]

CR did not lie but CR did not contact an independent 3rd part to verify the results prior to going public with the results. A responsible organization would have conducted a review of the anomoly prior to issuing a public warning.

Also - even if the results were valid, the public warning was not put into context.

What CR did was irresponsible.

[GMman]

This is certainly a MAJOR black eye for CR, even most of the media acknowledges that.

Yeah....but I bet it lasts about as long as Dan Rather's black eye......(anything less than "from now on" isn't long enough, IMO)