Re: NHTSA ban on EU EERF seats
I don't know, with Chrysler being sold to Fiat, talk of GM being sold to Fiat (at least last week there was), and Ford owning so many brands anyway, what harm could there be, so long as a Fiat seat fit a Fiat car (whether it's Chrysler, GM, Fiat itself, whatever), a Ford seat fit a Ford seat (Lincoln/Mercury/Jaguar/etc)?
I wouldn't. I'm quite happy with the near-universal systems we have. I would not like to have to take two vehicles when my Dad comes to visit because even though he has a 6-passenger vehicle, I drive a Honda and he drives a Ford, therefore my carseat wouldn't work in his truck.
Or when we go on vacation and rent a vehicle, or use a relative's. Just counting our personal vehicles and those of family that we fly to visit at least once a year, there are 5 different makers (Honda, GM (Pontiac and Saturn), Ford, Toyota, Hyundai). No WAY am I going to buy 5 carseats for one kid just to have a seat on vacation.
Large families with 4-7 kids in seats would have a very hard time vehicle shopping. (They already do, just finding a vehicle to fit them all.) If you added in the restriction of staying with the same brand (or brand family) vehicle that they already had, or buy new seats for all, that would make it that much more difficult. Even an average family with 2.4 kids doesn't need the added expense of outfitting new carseats if they get a new vehicle.
If carseats were vehicle-specific or vehicle-brand/maker specific, you'd end up with a lot of people using carseats in vehicles that they were never intended to fit. There's already enough complication, misuse, and just plain creativity with the two attachment systems we already have.