Does Britax really say this about the BV recall?

It's July, 2006. If you're asking because of the recall, it is manufactured within the months of the recall seats, but it seems to be no big deal, other than you don't use the top tether when the child weighs more than 50 lbs. According to Britax, the performance of the seat actually improved with the tether open. That's what they say, anyway. Let me know if you need anything else.

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Re: Britax Boulevard recall

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Guys you need to remember that the "failure" in this case is one of those "letter of the law" things and NOT a failure to protect the crash dummy.

From the information I've seen, the tether actually performed BETTER (remember the purpose of the tether is to reduce head excursion).

However, an old requirement for the tethers is still on the books (something about the possibility for pinched fingers, iirc) and THAT is why it failed.

Definition of head excursion for those who need it:

Head excursion

The distance that the head of a child or crash dummy moves in the direction of impact or on rebound from a crash.

Higher head excursions are associated with higher risk of head contact and injury.

There are two head excursion limits for forward-facing dummies in FMVSS 213 testing.

Before September 1999, the limit was 32 inches forward of a point located about 5 inches rearward of the seat bight.

Since that date, nearly all forward-facing CRs have to meet an additional limit of about 28 inches (720 mm) from that point, but they can use a tether to do it.

Retaining the old limit provides a guarantee that the CR is structurally sound and will perform as well as older models, even if the tether is not used.

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From what I understand, the tether hook opened and the seat slipped into recline mode. That's not allowed to happen, not because it causes injury, but because the open hook could (in theory) pinch a child's fingers.
The net result of the hook slipping open (picture a spoon handle bending) was that head excursion numbers were even less than they would have been if the hook had performed "correctly" according to the letter of the law.

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So, basically, it is thought that it is actually okay to keep using the tether past 50 lbs? And that it actually performed better than the 'regular' tether? But they had to recall it because of the pinched fingers thing?

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