Question US car seats

Now, i don't want to open a can of worms, as I am sure that this has been discussed many times, but does anyone really know the difference between a US car seat and a CDN one? I am not implying that I want to purchase a US car seat to use in Canada, but I would really love to hear if any one really knows why a US car seat can't be used in canada? In fact, I would love to know why our car seats are better in anyway..as this article points out the US car seat version is tested to 56k/h for frontal and 61 for side impacts, yet in canada they are only tested to 48k/h. So in my opinion buying a seat in the US would make more sense as it's tested to higher standard...correct me if I am wrong.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/childcarseats/

P.s. not to mention as mentioned before..really do you think that a car seat manufacturer makes 2 of the same seat one for the US and one for canada? For example the Britax marathon is rated to 35 lbs for rear facing in the US, but in canada the same seat from the same manufacturer is only rated to 30 lbs...not sure why there is a difference?

Please enlighten me.

30 mph/48 kph is the test speed used for FMVSS and CMVSS compliance testing. The 35 mph/56 kph testing you saw is done by NHTSA for VEHICLES, not for child restraints. Consumer Reports was trying to test child restraints at the same speed vehicles were tested at, but they made a multitude of errors and their test results were retracted. The tests referenced in the article you posted were done by Consumer Reports. Consumer Reports is a U.S. organization I believe which is why would test U.S. car seats.

And yes, some seats are different between the U.S. and Canada. There are a few examples, which of course I can't remember right now. The Graco Nautilus might be one of them, different or additional foam in the seat. Someone else here will remember though and be able to provide you that example.

FMVSS and CMVSS use different test benches so seats react differently on the bench. It is possible that the Marathon over-rotates at higher weights in Canada or it's possible that Britax doesn't want to spend the money to re-certify it to a higher weight in Canada.

The article says that US cars are tested at the higher speed for frontal impact and tested for side impact. US child restraints are tested at the same speed as the Canadian versions and are not tested for side impact. There is no side impact protection standard.

I know that there are some visible differences on at least a couple of seats. I can't remember which seat it was, but someone posted pictures of the difference. The Canadian version had some extra foam under the cover that the US version didn't. There may be additional differences that aren't obvious to the naked eye or are hidden on the inside of the seat.

guys thanks for the replies. Before anyone points me to the older post here to read, i have already read them. Also I have read the full specs on the US and CDN safety standards and there are a few things that are very small...that really don't justify it for me. I am by no means a car seat tester or a install tech, but I do understand what I am reading, and for that I am sure that a US car seat will do exactly what it's CDN brother will do. Yes we have different standards..that is only put there so that the CMVSS and FMVSS can even exist..of course IMO. Of course I didn't start this thread to start going down a road that will never end, and i know that know one for sure can tell me there is a difference, unless you put a child in one seat and then put them in the CDN version of it and put them both through a crash with both to see if the child suffered any damage. Untill something like that happens we can only speculate what we are told. Yes they have different stickers..but are they different seats..I think not...again IMO. Personally if you put your child in a car seat at all you doing the right thing..keeping them rear facing for as long as i can is another but no one can tell me that a US version of a CDN seat will help my child more or less..there is no way...

superwell said:

Yes they have different stickers..but are they different seats..I think not...again IMO.

Click to expand...

We already told you that yes, in fact, some seats are different between the U.S. and Canada. Others are not, but some are.

superwell said:

but no one can tell me that a US version of a CDN seat will help my child more or less..there is no way...

Click to expand...

And has someone told you this? I personally haven't read or heard anyone on this forum say that a U.S. car seat is more or less safe than a Canadian seat so I am wondering where you heard this?

Here is the thread on the nautilus differences with pics.

http://car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=76739&highlight=nautilus+canada+foam

While I know for a fact that a number of Graco seats have the additional 1/4" (~) grey foam as a difference, the real difference lies in the testing methods that have traditionally been used in Canada. We use the older bench, which is less molded than the American version--it's basically an old sedan flat bench seat. This can often times make it more difficult for seats to pass rotation and head excursion testing as compared to use of the more modern bench. We also use an older set of dummies as compared to our US counterparts. The US also has two head excursion numbers, and we have one. For the time being, I believe we're still using US standards for our higher weight seats, minus the two head excursion numbers, for higher weight seats.

For the most part, stickers and French language are the primary differences between the seats. If you were to have a US seat that somehow made it into the hands of a Québécoise mom that could not read English or Spanish--this could be a problem. Also you need to consider that recalls are frequent, and it's possible that by using a seat from another country you may not be aware of a recall that impacts that seat but not the same seat in our own country.

I don't know if there's any argument to be had here. Nothing is better, nothing is worse. {Unless you're looking at pricetags..} Just different.

It is what it is...and quite honestly, if you've spent so much time reading regs you may want to do a search in this forum and find the hundreds of previous posts on this very same topic...It has been discussed to death, and I don't think any of us want to continue the torture.

-Nicole.