Article about safety/recalls

Do you own a car seat that's been recalled?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 12 48.0%
  • No, for sure.

    Votes: 13 52.0%
  • No, but I'm not totally for sure.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I don't know.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    25
  • Poll closed .

soulbarn

New member
Hi All -

My name is Dan Koeppel. I am a writer with Popular Mechanics, and I am working on a story about car seats (I am also a new parent who is learning a lot from these forums.)

I wanted to ask a few questions, which anyone can feel free to answer, in detail, in all, or in part. So here they are, and thank you for reading and your replies:

How much attention to you pay to what seems to be many recalls of car seats? Do you check to see if your product has been recalled on a regular basis?

Did you send in your warranty card? How quickly?

If your seat did have a recall, were you contacted by the manufacturer, or did you find out on your own?

Did you actually respond to the recall by doing whatever it recommended?

Some recalls are relatively minor, requiring a small fix; others are major, requiring replacement. Do you see all recalls as the same in terms of being worthy of your attention?

Similarly, given the many recalls, do you think that - as some recent studies have shown - it is possible for a sort of "recall fatigue" to set in that might reduce compliance and awareness?

Any other comments on recalls, warranty, and how it relates to the over question of proper use and installation would be helpful. If anyone is interested in being personally interviewed, or would like to discuss these issues in outside of a public forum, don't hesitate to private message me, and again, thanks in advance for your consideration and participation.
 
ADS

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
Hi there. I'll answer :)

First, I'm not sure I'd agree that there are "many" recalls on car seats. I'd say they're actually pretty rare--maybe a few a year. Maybe I see things differently than the general public, but I don't think people are overwhelmed by car seat recalls. Recalls of toys for lead content are far more prevalent.

Even if there are "too many," recalls, though, it doesn't matter. If something is unsafe and/or fails to meet federal regulations, it needs to be corrected whether people like it or not.

Depending on the brand and the nature of the recall, it might not affect many people, or it might be very wide-reaching. (For example, a recall on a not-widely-used Combi infant seat won't affect as many people or make as much news as a recall on Dorel-branded convertibles, which are very widely used.)

I have owned many car seats over the last eight years, and only one has been subject to a recall. (It was a Britax Wizard in 2004. Something about the adjuster strap.) I had not yet sent in the registration card because I hadn't actually taken it out of the box yet. I contacted the company, they sent the recall kit, and I installed it.

I sometimes send in the registration card BUT I need to explain why I sometimes don't. If I suspect that the seat is one I'm not likely to use very long, I'll save the card for whoever I give/sell the seat to. I'm on this forum often enough and get enough emails from my SafeKids coalition that I'm likely to know about a recall as soon as it's issued. I always encourage the parents I work with to send in their registration card.

As for the "severity" of recalls, for the most part I feel they need to be acted on as soon as possible. What might seem like an insignificant issue to someone might be extremely important in a crash. On the other hand, something like a misplaced label or a typo on a phone number aren't safety issues, but still something one might as well take care of.

People often see recalls as negative things, but I typically see them as positive and proactive. If there's a problem, I'd rather have a company step up and take care of it before anyone gets hurt. I don't necessarily look down on a car seat manufacturer who has a lot of recalls or praise one who doesn't. It depends more on the nature of the problems and how the company responds.

Edited to add: I didn't vote in the poll because while I did have a seat that had a recall, I no longer own it. My current seats do not have any recalls.
 

Pixels

New member
Hi! You came to the right place to ask about car seats, though our perspective certainly isn't representative of average parents.

Before I forget, your poll choices leave something out: you only ask if we own a recalled seat. As you noted, many recalls are for repairs, and once the seat is repaired it is safe to use. A recalled, unrepaired seat is totally different than a recalled but repaired seat.

How much attention to you pay to what seems to be many recalls of car seats? Do you check to see if your product has been recalled on a regular basis? As a technician, it is part of my job to pay attention to recalls. As a parent, it is also my job to pay attention to recalls of products I own or use. As an aunt, I also pay attention to recalls on items that I know are used for my nephew, and pass along the information to his mom. I receive recall information from several sources on a regular basis, including this forum. Car seat recalls are of course highlighted here and discussed at length. There is also a weekly post of all recalls for all items, and recalls on children's items also usually receive their own post.

Did you send in your warranty card? How quickly? I have owned 9 seats that came with recall notification cards. Before I was sucked into All Things Carseat, I did send in the recall cards on everything. I am a bit ashamed to admit that I have slacked off in recent years, but I am comfortable with that because I KNOW that I would hear about a recall. Spending a dozen or more hours on this site each week pretty much guarantees it.

Other baby items that came with recall registration cards were all registered by me, including some that I obtained second-hand and therefore did not come with the original card. I registered them with the manufacturer by going to the manufacturer's website.

I own a stroller that was recalled, and I know was registered, but never received notification.

You referred to the card as a "warranty card." It is worth noting that federal law prohibits the information collected for recall notification to be used for any other purpose, including warranty.

If your seat did have a recall, were you contacted by the manufacturer, or did you find out on your own?

Did you actually respond to the recall by doing whatever it recommended?
One of my seats was a near miss: Some seats with the same name were recalled, but my seat's Date Of Manufacture (DOM) was outside the affected range. I did check my seat to see if it was affected or not.

Some recalls are relatively minor, requiring a small fix; others are major, requiring replacement. Do you see all recalls as the same in terms of being worthy of your attention? I don't necessarily see all recalls as the same in terms of being worthy of my attention, but that doesn't have anything to do with whether the seat is repairable or not. It has more to do with how I use the seat, my child's behavior, and the reason for the recall. If the recall is on harness mode and I'm using the seat as a booster, then I only care because it might get used as a harness some day, but I don't care about it for the immediate. If the recall is because the child can get access to the foam under the cover, pick it off, put it in their mouth and choke, but my child is well beyond the stage where she puts things in her mouth, then I don't really care for my child. Again, I would get it repaired just in case it was used for a different child in the future.

Similarly, given the many recalls, do you think that - as some recent studies have shown - it is possible for a sort of "recall fatigue" to set in that might reduce compliance and awareness? Considering that car seats are the number one line of defense against the number one killer of children, I think that paying attention to these recalls is very important. While there are a lot of recalls in general, recalls on child restraints don't happen all that frequently. Without looking anything up, I'd ballpark it at one recall every 6-9 months.
 

SafeDad

CPSDarren - Admin
Staff member
Hi Dan, and welcome to Car-Seat.Org. I hope you receive a number of good responses for your article!

As an observer in parenting and carseat forums for over a decade, I notice that there often seems to be a lot more discussion and interest in perceived issues that have not resulted in a recall, or at least not yet. Once a recall is issued and a fix is made, there is generally less discussion and interest about it.

It's not unlike automobile forums. When lots of people are reporting the exact same issue on a number of internet outlets, but the manufacturer and dealers claim ignorance for months or years, many people get upset. Once there's a recall, then you go get it fixed and forget about it for the most part.

You are also welcome to contact me if you wish. Thanks again for visiting!
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
CPSDarren said:
It's not unlike automobile forums. When lots of people are reporting the exact same issue on a number of internet outlets, but the manufacturer and dealers claim ignorance for months or years, many people get upset. Once there's a recall, then you go get it fixed and forget about it for the most part.

!

To add further perspective using the automobile comparison:

I currently own 14 car seats. None of them are subject to a recall (this includes several that are expired and used for teaching purposes only)

I own 2 cars (2005 Toyota, 2007 Honda) and between them they have been subject to a total of 7 recalls.
 

lanwenyi

New member
How much attention to you pay to what seems to be many recalls of car seats? Do you check to see if your product has been recalled on a regular basis?
I am not a CPST, but as a parent, I feel it is my responsibility to pay attention to recalls. There actually aren't that many for carseats; it seems that there are many more for toys. I am more concerned about issues that seem recall-worthy that have not resulted in recalls yet.
Before I joined this forum, I checked the recall database abt 1x/quarter and whenever a big recall was announced. Since joining this forum, I've checked the weekly recall list every week. It's simple and easy to do.


Did you send in your warranty card? How quickly?
I send in the card, or, more commonly, register it on-line, once I have tried the seat in both cars and with either/both kid(s) who'll be riding in it. I don't remove the tags (including the warranty card) until doing so.

If your seat did have a recall, were you contacted by the manufacturer, or did you find out on your own?
I've had 4 seats recalled. The first, a Britax Decathlon, I was contacted by the manufacturer. The second, a Maxi-Cosi (Dorel) Mico, I was contacted by TRU/BRU via email, which led to me contacting Dorel. The 3rd/4th (and only seats I still have), 2 Safety First Avenues, I found out abt the recall on-line, waited 3 days (for a total of 1.5 wks since the recall had been announced) for Dorel to contact me, then called them. They claimed that the repair kits were already on their way to me b/c I had registered my seats. I waited 2 more weeks. They never came. I called again and they shipped them out and I received them two days later.

Did you actually respond to the recall by doing whatever it recommended?
Yes. And w/ the big Dorel recall, I encouraged everyone I knew who had affected seats to do the same. Not everyone contacted Dorel, so their seats have not had the recall-repair done.

Some recalls are relatively minor, requiring a small fix; others are major, requiring replacement. Do you see all recalls as the same in terms of being worthy of your attention?
If it's recalled, it's a safety issue (b/c carseats are a safety device). My #1 priority is my kids' safety, so ALL carseat recalls are important to me, no matter how "minor".

Similarly, given the many recalls, do you think that - as some recent studies have shown - it is possible for a sort of "recall fatigue" to set in that might reduce compliance and awareness?
Again, I don't feel that there are actually that many carseat recalls. However, I find that many people just don't find the recalls that important to them, so they don't respond no matter what unless they had personally seen the issue w/ their own seat.

Any other comments on recalls, warranty, and how it relates to the over question of proper use and installation would be helpful. If anyone is interested in being personally interviewed, or would like to discuss these issues in outside of a public forum, don't hesitate to private message me, and again, thanks in advance for your consideration and participation.
If you have any follow-up questions, I'm happy to answer. Feel free to PM me if you wish.
 

jourdysmom

CPST Instructor
I own 13 seats at this moment. 2 were subject to recall and were repaired by me. My other answers are similar to the rest...

My 2008 Chrysler Town & Country? Has had 5 recall repairs done! I trust the seats more than my van!
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
I have owned several carseats that were recalled, and several cars, particularly Saturns we previously owned and 2 recalls involving our 2005 Toyota Sienna. One of the more memorable carseat recalls for me was literally recalled by a manufacturer's telephone call within a day or less of it arriving on my porch via an internet order and before I had a chance to register it. It was one of the first 12 Recaro Signos manufactured and recalled almost immediately by Recaro who tracked down early purchasers through the pre-orders via Rightstart.com after another early Signo purchaser and member here noticed extraneous screws oddly drilled into the back to hold the harness shield/cover onto the seatback. Other recalls were harness related with potentially slipping harness adjuster levers or harnesses potentially easily slipping off harness splitter plates and very attention worthy, not something to let slide (ooh, bad pun, sorry). I generally find out about carseat recalls here on car-seat.org first before hearing from the manufacturer directly, and have always done the corrective action/fix as soon as feasible, particularly when the recall involved harness issues that could be injurious or worse if not remedied. Despite usually learning about recalls first via car-seat.org, I do faithfully register our carseats after purchase either by sending in the product registration card or doing online registration if the carseat manufacturer has that capability online because I figure it speeds up the process of receiving the recall fix/repair kit from the manufacturer if I'm already a registered owner at the time of the recall. I really learned to be proactive about registering after a faux pas involving absentmind hubby forgetting to mail registration cards at the office drop box for me and leaving cards in his laptop bag for months, oops, leading me to contact the manufacturer directly when the recall fix didn't seem to be forthcoming as quickly as it had for other owners of affected carseats.
 

Brigala

CPST Instructor
Hi All -

My name is Dan Koeppel. I am a writer with Popular Mechanics, and I am working on a story about car seats (I am also a new parent who is learning a lot from these forums.)
WELCOME!! We are glad you are here, both as a writer and as a parent. :) I hope you feel free to ask questions from either perspective.
How much attention to you pay to what seems to be many recalls of car seats? Do you check to see if your product has been recalled on a regular basis?
Because I'm a CPS technician, I pay pretty close attention. I read the new recall lists whenever they come out, and keep an eye out for not only the car seats I own but also car seats my friends own.

Did you send in your warranty card? How quickly?
If I remember to send in the registration card, it's usually within the first few days. I am not very good about remembering to send in my registration cards, though. I am somewhat more likely to register online than send in the card, but I'll do whichever one I remember to do first. Which is often neither. I wasn't very good at it before I became a CPS technician, either, which is more concerning because then I wasn't reading recall lists on a regular basis.

If your seat did have a recall, were you contacted by the manufacturer, or did you find out on your own?

Did you actually respond to the recall by doing whatever it recommended?
I haven't owned a recalled seat yet that I'm aware of (and I know for sure I don't own any now), but I absolutely would comply with a recall on a car seat. On some other product? Maybe. Depends on the product and what the recall is for.

Some recalls are relatively minor, requiring a small fix; others are major, requiring replacement. Do you see all recalls as the same in terms of being worthy of your attention?
Not really the same, no, but I pay attention to all of them.

Similarly, given the many recalls, do you think that - as some recent studies have shown - it is possible for a sort of "recall fatigue" to set in that might reduce compliance and awareness?
Absolutely. Even though car seats specifically don't really have a lot of recalls (relatively speaking), the sheer number of recalls of children's products is overwhelming. Between cribs and bouncers and scooters and car seats and toys and jackets with drawstrings... who can keep track of all that crap? And guess what? I own and use a drop-side crib. I am careful to make sure the hardware stays tight and intact, but I just can't bring myself to believe that every drop-side crib ever made is dangerous (and mine was not subjected to a specific recall, just the blanket one that covers all drop side cribs). The entire thing does make me tempted to take recall notices in general with a grain of salt (although for me personally, that doesn't extend to car seats).

Any other comments on recalls, warranty, and how it relates to the over question of proper use and installation would be helpful. If anyone is interested in being personally interviewed, or would like to discuss these issues in outside of a public forum, don't hesitate to private message me, and again, thanks in advance for your consideration and participation.

I wouldn't mind being interviewed but I'm also nobody of particular note that would be worth interviewing. I'm just a mom who's a little nutty about car seats. :p
 

UlrikeDG

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Hi, Dan! :) Welcome aboard.

How much attention to you pay to what seems to be many recalls of car seats? Do you check to see if your product has been recalled on a regular basis?

I'm generally aware, "There's been a recall for X seat," but I don't usually pay too much attention to the details unless it's a seat I own or have an interest in (e.g., if I know a friend bought one recently). Many recalls are for superficial things like labeling errors, which do need to be corrected but aren't really life threatening.

Did you send in your warranty card? How quickly?

I have to send them in right away or I forget altogether. I like that most carseat companies now have the option to register products online. I'm more likely to do it that way.

If your seat did have a recall, were you contacted by the manufacturer, or did you find out on your own?

I had a 2001 Britax Marathon (now expired) that was subject to the HUGS recall fix (Britax sent out rubber covers for the harness straps to help reduce head excursion). I was aware of the recall before the manufacturer had mailed out the fix, but I didn't have to contact them to receive the parts, because I had registered the seat.

Did you actually respond to the recall by doing whatever it recommended?

Yes!

Some recalls are relatively minor, requiring a small fix; others are major, requiring replacement. Do you see all recalls as the same in terms of being worthy of your attention?

I don't think you can lump a failing harness in with a label printed in the wrong color (both are actual recalls that have happened). I generally take carseat recalls more seriously than recalls for other baby products. (Did you know that if your child puts his fingers in the hinge as you fold a stroller, his fingers could get pinched? Yeah. I did, too. But there was still a recall issued, because parents weren't making sure their kids' hands were clear before folding. I ignored that one.)

Similarly, given the many recalls, do you think that - as some recent studies have shown - it is possible for a sort of "recall fatigue" to set in that might reduce compliance and awareness?

I can't speak for other parents, but I like to think that I have a degree of common sense that can tell the difference between a recall that actually affects the effectiveness of a safety seat and one that has to do with regulatory issues (like label color) or obvious misuse. Some people see a recall as a red flag to avoid a seat or brand. I think a well handled recall can actually be reassuring. "This company cares and will fix it," instead of, "This company will deny avoid until someone gets hurt. And they might not fix it even then."

Honestly, the things that bother me most about carseat safety are things that will never result in a recall. The dangers of shield boosters were known for over a decade before they finally stopped being sold. And they weren't recalled even then. The seats met the federal standard, and their real-world dangers were irrelevant, as long as they were making money for someone, they could be found on store shelves. The same goes for overhead shield and t-shield seats, convertibles with 20 lb rear facing weight limits (causing many infants to be turned around well before their first birthdays), forward facing seats with the harness adjuster on the rear of the seat (so it was impossible to adjust the tightness of the straps once the seat was installed in the vehicle), seats which are incompatible with more vehicles than they actually work in, not to mention the plethora of seats that didn't actually FIT the children they were labeled for, and so on. Those issues are more significant than many that result in recalls, and they're problems that most parents don't find out about unless they do the research. Since you don't know what you don't know, well, why would you think to do the research?

Carseats have come along way in the past decade! Most of the most egregious problems have disappeared over time. But not because of recalls. The word gets out over time--via forums like this one and other parenting boards and sometimes even via mainstream media--and parents start to expect better products. It's a slow process, but it goes to show that parents should rely solely on official recalls to determine what seat is best for their child.
 

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