If manufacturers don't care enough to issue a new manual then their after the fact statements mean nothing to me. Hearsay isn't enough for me to disregard the manual. If it was really important and manufacturers were concerned about liability then they absolutely would change the manual to reflect the new information.
What is the point of including a manual with the seat if "engineers" are going to send out emails to a couple people out of thousands that own the seat to change things?
This is my thinking too.
How many people have gotten conflicting info when calling/emailing companies about any number of issues? We have no way of knowing if an engineer was *really* contacted. There are many types of engineers, if an engineer was contacted, did the CSR contact the right one? IIRC (although this might have been Diono, not Recaro), there was also a statement from an engineer stating that a gap created by keeping the headrest in place was okay (expressly prohibited in the manual) and to fill the gap with a towel/blanket (which makes NO sense).
Until I see a press release, an updated manual with a "retroactive" statement, or a recall, I'm going to follow my manual, which means no head support is required.
If I'm talking to other carseat geeks, I'll discuss the controversy and let them decide for themselves. If a non-carseat geek came across the controversy and asked me about it, I would discuss it, let them know my thinking on it, and that others disagree with me. I won't bring it up otherwise and just tell people to follow the manual.
