When Sunshine Kids became "Diono" and a lot of people speculated it was to hide from the superlatch mess, Diono claimed it was so as to have a more "global" sounding name. But looking at their website - I haven't snooped every single country yet - it seems like the US and Canada are the only countries where you can buy Radians. Some countries have the Monteray... many only have trivial car seat and stroller accessories. Is this odd or shady in any way? Do other countries not consider these seats to be safe? Or is there just not a market for them?
I find this kind of puzzling, that they're in the global market to sell drink holders and piddle pads.
I'd guess it's probably because Radian is in some way not compatible with the ECE R44/04 standard that most of the rest of the world uses for car seats; it's not like one standard is safer than the other, it's just that they are different. Requirements for boosters are more similar, that's why it was probably easier for them to certify Monterey with ECE R44/04, too, with few or no modification. A year (?) or so ago a seat called Diono StratoFix was presented in a trade show, that apparently is/was intended for Europe. Just this summer we got a new standard ECE R129 for car seats [both the new one and the old one are in use at this moment] -- it's brand new and currently only includes isofix-only installed seats, booster seats are next on the line to be included, and then belt installed seats with integral harness; Diono may well be waiting for this new standard to come into full force and just then certify a new seat by it; from what I've heard it's a very costly process to certify a seat ...
Added: isn't the Radian also sold in the New Zealand? I may be wrong but aren't R44/04, Australian and selected FMVS 213 seats legal there?
