Child-Safety Seat Recalls Lack Standards

Earlier this month we reported on the recall of Evenflo child-safety seats, but that recall — issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — has an interesting story behind it. As reported by The New York Times, NHTSA issued the recall despite the fact that there is no crash-test standard for child-safety seats.

In fact, according to the Times article, the only reason NHTSA issued the recall was because this particular safety seat underwent "catastrophic failure" during a side-impact crash test, when the seat separated from its base then pitched forward in the vehicle.

Evenflo has complied with the NHTSA ruling by issuing a free "dual-hook fastener" that is supposed to secure the seat in the event of an accident. Still, the question remains, should child-safety seats be held to a more concrete type of standard? It appears NHTSA is beginning to think so.

The number of child-safety seats recalled in 2007 was more than the previous four years combined — 11 recalls for a total of 3.35 million seats. Representatives from NHTSA said that by the end of the year the agency would decide whether to standardize safety requirements for child-safety seats.

'Catastrophic' Failure Leads to Seat Recall (The New York Times)