Question New Infant Seat Ratings and Testing from Consumer Reports. What do you Think?

soph's mom · Apr 3, 2014

This report has good timing for me

Any word on when/if they're going to release info on convertible seats now that they've done boosters and buckets?

SafeDad · Apr 3, 2014

http://carseatblog.com/26915/the-sa...on-ratings-and-methods-from-consumer-reports/

What do you think of their new ratings? Fair? Unfair? As you expected or some big surprises?

How about their new crash testing methodology? A big step forward or another fiasco?

Jessica61624 · Apr 3, 2014

I'm curious about convertible seats too.

ketchupqueen · Apr 3, 2014

I think it's of as much worth as the transport Canada testing.

That is: I'll file away the info and take it into consideration along with everything else for my own decisions, but I won't be bringing it up with parents.

I have some questions about their crash tests.

I'd like to know more about it. I hope they let other agencies and engineers review their methods and results. I hope the review gets published to let us know more.

soph's mom · Apr 3, 2014

Wow, I have a thread...

That was magic...

SafeDad · Apr 3, 2014

ketchupqueen said:
I have some questions about their crash tests.

I'd like to know more about it. I hope they let other agencies and engineers review their methods and results. I hope the review gets published to let us know more.

I still have questions, too. I think cautious optimism, as I wrote in Kecia's blog today is a good description. I've been a big critic in the past and am not yet ready to dismiss my concerns. On the other hand, comparative crash testing ratings are a glaring need and perhaps, just possibly, they got it right!

soph's mom said:
Wow, I have a thread... That was magic...

Weird glitch! Thanks for the poll;-)

tiggercat · Apr 3, 2014

I think I am somewhere between yes and maybe. I think people want ratings, and I like knowing how my kids seats fare in testing. However, I am skeptical about CR testing and am worried about the panic that might ensure. It goes against the "safest seat fits your child, vehicle, budget and is used correctly every time" message.

Mom2natalie · Apr 3, 2014

Are there any results for Hbb?

ketchupqueen · Apr 3, 2014

tiggercat said:
I think I am somewhere between yes and maybe. I think people want ratings, and I like knowing how my kids seats fare in testing. However, I am skeptical about CR testing and am worried about the panic that might ensure. It goes against the "safest seat fits your child, vehicle, budget and is used correctly every time" message.

Yeah, not looking forward to the panic.

I do think cautiously optimistic may be a good place, but I'm heavy on the caution until I see more on methodology.

soph's mom · Apr 3, 2014

When I first saw these ratings I had just woken up (no coffee, still squinty eyes, etc...) and I was under the impression they were from the IIHS like the booster ratings... Guess I should've read better or waited til I woke up more. Now that I see they are from CR I take them with much less confidence. I do wish IIHS would test the infant seats and convertibles... :-/

cryswilkins · Apr 3, 2014

Do we know what crash lab they used? I'm still processing. I don't know what to think.

Parenting and posting at the same time, please excuse my typos.

TechnoGranola · Apr 3, 2014

In the real world, I vary rarely see an infant seat with that much room between it and the front seat!

tl01 · Apr 3, 2014

Well, I am thrilled that this could be a start to more. I give them credit for trying to work through their mistakes of the past. I'm sure this won't be a perfect situation right off the bat but it is a place to start. I think parents deserve and need more info when picking a seat. This will give techs more info to explain in the beginning and that might be
bothersome but that is what techs help parents do. We are supposed to help them navigate the information out there to empower them. If a group wants to work hard to make a difference even if it isn't initially perfect, I am not one to be scared off. Here's to hoping it goes well. Oh, and I would love to see the crash test videos.

vonfirmath · Apr 3, 2014

CPSDarren said:
http://carseatblog.com/26915/the-sa...on-ratings-and-methods-from-consumer-reports/

What do you think of their new ratings? Fair? Unfair? As you expected or some big surprises?

How about their new crash testing methodology? A big step forward or another fiasco?

The biggest surprise is seeing the Orbit down at the bottom. Isn't that a $1000 seat? Or does price still come into it?

I'm also surprised at the variety of ratings for the Graco Snugride seats. Is there that much difference in how they are made?

tiggercat · Apr 3, 2014

vonfirmath said:
The biggest surprise is seeing the Orbit down at the bottom. Isn't that a $1000 seat? Or does price still come into it?

I'm also surprised at the variety of ratings for the Graco Snugride seats. Is there that much difference in how they are made?

The 22, 30, and 35 are all different seats. The 30 can be used on the 35 base but not vice versa. I am not surprised that the 22 doesn't fare as well.

The orbit is confusing to install correctly, and they do take price into account in their ratings.

SafeDad · Apr 3, 2014

TechnoGranola said:
In the real world, I vary rarely see an infant seat with that much room between it and the front seat!

They did do some research for this. If I recall, I believe the conclusion was indeed that small cars would require the seat moved all the way forward to fit some infant seats. Obviously, it's impossibly expensive to test with varying distances for each model, but such is the situation with every test. If your vehicle seat varies from a Ford Flex? If you moved the front seat farther back? Results could vary!

vonfirmath said:
The biggest surprise is seeing the Orbit down at the bottom. Isn't that a $1000 seat? Or does price still come into it?

I'm also surprised at the variety of ratings for the Graco Snugride seats. Is there that much difference in how they are made?

There definitely are differences. There are a few bases, some shared across platforms. Some models share carriers as well. While they received "Better" ratings, I was a little surprised at the somewhat lower overall ratings for the SnugRide 35 and 40 models.

The Orbit Infant G2 and Maxi-Cosi Prezi had higher head injury measures than others. I am trying to get some clarification on this. The Evenflo Embrace 35 and similar Snugli Infant seat detached from their base after rebound, but CR said the dummy remained protected and the carseat undamaged, resulting in the "Basic" rating. The Graco SnugRide (22) Classic Connect exhibited cracking on the base. I am also trying to verify if multiple samples of these seats were tested and had similar results.

LISmama810 · Apr 3, 2014

tl01 said:
Well, I am thrilled that this could be a start to more. I give them credit for trying to work through their mistakes of the past. I'm sure this won't be a perfect situation right off the bat but it is a place to start. I think parents deserve and need more info when picking a seat. This will give techs more info to explain in the beginning and that might be bothersome but that is what techs help parents do. We are supposed to help them navigate the information out there to empower them. If a group wants to work hard to make a difference even if it isn't initially perfect, I am not one to be scared off. Here's to hoping it goes well. Oh, and I would love to see the crash test videos.

:yeahthat:

I love that they're using something that more closely resembles an actual back seat vs the dinosaur NHTSA requires.

Obviously, this still only gives us a snapshot of real-life situations, but it's good for mulling over.

TechnoGranola · Apr 3, 2014

CPSDarren said:
They did do some research for this. If I recall, I believe the conclusion was indeed that small cars would require the seat moved all the way forward to fit some infant seats. Obviously, it's impossibly expensive to test with varying distances for each model, but such is the situation with every test. If your vehicle seat varies from a Ford Flex? If you moved the front seat farther back? Results could vary!

I did see they figured this was the average, but that was average spacing that exists, not average spacing of how seats are actually installed. Also, I think I know a lot of people with mid size SUVs. And the infant seats are always very close to the front seat. They could move the front seat up further, but with less comfort for the front passenger. People tend to create more room for the front passengers, not for the car seats.

I'd like to have seen what the different was with the car seats installed within a half centimetre of the front seat. Would help us learn if seats do need more room. And maybe prompt a redesign for the real world.

Still much better than their last set of tests! Hopefully this brings changes to FMVSS and CMVSS.

yetanotherjen · Apr 3, 2014

While I like the wording, Best, Better, Basic better than other wording they could have chosen, I think I would feel better if I new some of the criteria of how the seats were tested, along with numbers. I'm a big numbers person. I'm guessing the CR put the keyfit at number 1 because when you combine testing and ease of use it scored higher than the aton 2, even though the aton 2 tested the "best".

I also wonder how they tested the evenflo embrace 35, did the test with the handle in the arb position, or with it back, or with both. It is not knowing things like that, that make me a bit skeptical. I am optimistic that this could help increase safety and better testing in the future, but telling parents that their "basic" seat is still safe to use gives me a migraine just thinking about it.

soph's mom · Apr 3, 2014

If be interested in seeing how the seats did with baseless installs. I have never had as much confidence about rebounding without a base but have also worried about the seat coming off the base...

In the case of the snug ride 22 and the cracking base made I wonder if it would be rated better with a truly secure baseless install?

Question New Infant Seat Ratings and Testing from Consumer Reports. What do you Think?

Do you like the new Consumer Reports Infant Seat Ratings and Testing?

Yes! We need comparative safety ratings for carseats

Maybe: I'm still skeptical because of past concerns about their ratings

No- I can't trust the new ratings and/or testing

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