Rear facing weight limits

elle7715

Member
The 'new' Evenflo Titan got me thinking about weight limits. My impression is that they didn't change the seat at all, they just retested it with a heavier test dummy. Is that correct?'
Sunshine Kids has also said that they will eventually be testing the Radian with a 35 lb dummy and *hopefully* they'll up the RF weight limit from 33 lbs to 35. So it seems that the companies are noticing that consumers want seats that will accommodate higher weights. What the consumer wants the consumer gets...so now they're retesting seats.
The new Britax seats (Diplomat, Advocate) have 35 lb RF weight limits, while the Marathon/Decathlon/Boulevard still have 33 lbs limits. I'm guessing this is just because they've tested them with a 35 lb dummy, not that they've changed their design in some way. Do you think with enough consumer demand they would retest the MA/DC/BV seats?
I find it hard to believe that a tethered RF Marathon wouldn't perform better than a Scenera in a crash. Anything is possible I guess, but Dorel gets to put the 35 lb limit just because they took the opportunity to test it for 35 lbs. Just like Evenflo gets to put the higher weight limit on the Titan without changing a thing. Can't Britax do the same thing?
I suppose I should add a disclaimer here...I'm not in any way suggesting people should go over the listed weight limits. I don't want my children to be the crash dummies. I'm just asking a hypothetical question and wondering if Britax would retest if the demand was high enough.
 
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ThreeBeans

New member
I understand what you are saying and I agree. It does seem a little ridiculous that the flimsy Scenera can go to 35 lbs but a solid, tethered Britax can't :confused:

My guess is they've simply tried a higher weight dummy. I would love to see my current seats approved for an extra two pounds.
 

southpawboston

New member
Anything is possible I guess, but Dorel gets to put the 35 lb limit just because they took the opportunity to test it for 35 lbs.

for all we know, they didn't actually test it to35 lb... they could just be claiming that without actual testing. the testing is the responsibility of the manufacturer and they self-certify. they government doesn't validate the mfr's claims of 35 lb. given all the deceptive practices accused of dorel, it wouldn't surprise me if they just pull that magic number out of a hat... maybe i'm wrong and someone who knows the testing laws can correct me.
 

ThreeBeans

New member
for all we know, they didn't actually test it to35 lb... they could just be claiming that without actual testing. the testing is the responsibility of the manufacturer and they self-certify. they government doesn't validate the mfr's claims of 35 lb. given all the deceptive practices accused of dorel, it wouldn't surprise me if they just pull that magic number out of a hat... maybe i'm wrong and someone who knows the testing laws can correct me.


Well, thank you for playing havoc with my allready extreme paranoia :eek:
 

CDNTech

Senior Community Member
He's partially correct though, at least by Canadian standards (not totally sure how the USA does there's but I would think it's fairly similar)... the initial model is tested to the specified weight limit to get it's stickers from the government, but all other testing is done in-house by the manufacturer after that initial seat has passed standards.

Keep in mind, it is in the companies best interests for their seats to perform as they say they should. I'm not a huge fan of Dorel because of their track record, but until proven otherwise, there's not much you can do but use the seat according to it's manual. If you are worried about the companies track record, then the only advice I can give is, don't buy from that company.
 

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