Question Defunct car seat brands

Bebe

New member
Why did the brands Gerry Guard, Strollee, and Bobby Mac go out of business?
Why does Fisher a Price still makes seats for Canada but not the US?
Why did Little Tikes recently start with Diono, what took them so long?
Do the new Diono-Little Tikes boosters use LATCH or are they flimsy projectiles?
Why does Canada require 40lbs minimum for boosters...are they just smarter than us?
Why isn't there better car seat legislation to regulate minimum/maximum weight limits?
Why is there no consistency in weight limits and height limits from one brand to the next? (Redundant question)

Venting here, we need better more consistent car seat regulations here. Canada does 40lbs min for boosters, Sweden does rf thru 40lbs/4-5 yrs, iIceland and the UK has stronger fines and fees for car seat misuse and improper installation....my god USA government and American Academy of Pediatrics, get with the program!

In my ideal law scenario, convertible car seats are both rf and ff, rf limits would be 45lbs/44", ff limits would be 38lbs/40", but the rule of transition from rf to ff would be child must be at or exceed the minimum weight/height limits for next stage. Then booster seats would only exist as high back boosters, minimum 40 lbs/42", maximum 110lbs/60"; exit mode to either standard seatbelt or Safety1st Incognito requires pediatrician appointment with CPST to follow 5-step test plus 30minute drive observation with CPST. All law enforcement agencies and every police offer required to participate in CPST safety course, and then $500 fee for improper use of booster seats, ff to soon, improper installations, etc. and finally, raise the age limit of rf to 3yrs, bc there's a lot of dumb ignorant uneducated people in our country who turn their babies around before they're even 2yrs old (example the Shaytards vlogging family on YouTube are the worst car seat repeat offenders ever). Of course that's all a fantasy. And this post is mostly a venting post.
 
ADS

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
Gerry and Bobby Mac both got bought out by Evenflo I think. Mergers happen.

Fisher Price name is licensed for the same seat we get here as a Baby Trend seat. They aren't actually making seats, just being paid for use of their name.
 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
Then booster seats would only exist as high back boosters, minimum 40 lbs/42", maximum 110lbs/60"; exit mode to either standard seatbelt or Safety1st Incognito requires pediatrician appointment with CPST to follow 5-step test plus 30minute drive observation with CPST.

There's no reason to believe that highbacked boosters are safer than backless ones when the child is physically and developmentally ready to move to backless.

I hate the idea of requiring parents to get permission to make the decision to move to seatbelts or backless boosters.
 

bubbaray

New member
I was just going to say what CSC said. HBB are not any safER than LBBs when used properly. There is zero chance the govt would ever be able to afford having a tech do a road test to approve booster use with every single child. I can't even fathom how that would be possible. It's also rather insulting to parents.

There are also plenty of vehicles that are incompatible with various seats, styles of seats, etc for various reasons. For example if the vehicle has non-removable , forward headrests, it can be incompatible with all HBBs.

Doctors are notorious for giving out horrible car seat advice, as are police (& fire).

Neither of my kids RFd to age 3 and I am neither dumb nor uneducated. And when I turned my then 2yo FFg, I was a certified tech.

The whole point of becoming a tech is to *help* people make better choices, not to bully, force, or insult them into doing what you as a tech think is best.
 

gigi

New member
I am a pro government liberal and I would flip my shizz about anyone telling me they needed to oversee the safety choices I make for my child. Plus, a lot CPSTs know less than I do about CPS.

From your posts your zeal and enthusiasm come through, but be careful about spreading misinformation or judgment. There are a lot of real world situations that don't fit into ideal practice.
 

littleangelfire

Well-known member
I hate the idea of using laws to get people to do best practice. It's none of the government's business, and they need to stay out of everyone's vehicles. I'm sorry, but the kind of government intrusion/intervention you're talking about is the stuff of my nightmares. Kind education is a better approach
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
I'm in favor of car seat and seatbelt laws, because they help establish social norming and prevent costs to others. But not only would individual checkoffs to move from stage to stage be so onerous that I think they would be more harm than help, it would create a cost and resource burden so huge as to be insurmountable, most likely. It would never survive a cost analysis if seriously proposed.
 
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katymyers

Active member
I am a pro government liberal and I would flip my shizz about anyone telling me they needed to oversee the safety choices I make for my child. Plus, a lot CPSTs know less than I do about CPS.

From your posts your zeal and enthusiasm come through, but be careful about spreading misinformation or judgment. There are a lot of real world situations that don't fit into ideal practice.


Same here. I am all for stricter laws and higher fines for child restraints but there is a line. I have been to a car seat check, talked to tech and even a CPST-I, and honestly been shocked at how little they know and how outdated their information is despite being trained and current with their certification.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Brianna

New member
Bebe, just keep reading along. You will learn a lot. CPS is a lot more complex than you think, and not all black and white. This is a great group of advocates, but it takes a long time of hanging out here to get up to speed.

This! My initial interest in child passenger safety lead me to the same ideas you're having, but countless hours of reading here really helped me understand the gray areas. I even drove my 5 1/2 year old godson in a backless booster this weekend, something I never thought I would have considered years ago. All of my time here led me to be comfortable with it because he met the minimums for the booster, follows instructions in the car, and had a great seat belt fit. I also needed to fit two other car seats in my car, and that was the most practical option.

You seem like you're on a path to becoming a fantastic child passenger safety advocate- just keep on reading and soak in all the wisdom that is to be found here :thumbsup:
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
(example the Shaytards vlogging family on YouTube are the worst car seat repeat offenders ever). .

I'm going to be pretty blunt here, and yes, my moderator hat is on...

If you want to help people, you are seriously going to have to work on your tact. While I can see that you are obviously passionate about safety, educating about car seat safety is a lot like growing orchids, but you are attacking it with a sledge hammer.

A good place to start is with understanding that a high number of the regular posters on this board originally came for help with a special needs child and are quite insulted when "retard or .....'tard" is used as a derogatory term.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=47001
 

Aurezalia

Well-known member
A good place to start is with understanding that a high number of the regular posters on this board originally came for help with a special needs child and are quite insulted when "retard or .....'tard" is used as a derogatory term. http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=47001

While I do think the OP has a lot of gray areas to learn about in regards to CPS, I do have to point out that she wasn't calling the Shay family "tards", but that's actually what they call themselves, the "shaytards ".
 

Mamabear4

New member
A good place to start is with understanding that a high number of the regular posters on this board originally came for help with a special needs child and are quite insulted when "retard or .....'tard" is used as a derogatory term.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=47001

Just a gentle note that "Shaytards" is actually the name used by the vlogging family. So while it may not be PC (AT ALL), it's not a gaffe of the OP.
http://www.kutv.com/news/features/t...st-family-of-YouTube-57491.shtml#.VPausYY8LCS

Just wanted to make sure the OP didn't get piled on for something that folks could legitimately be very sensitive about.
 

Bebe

New member
I wAs referring to the Butler family who literally call themselves and their YouTube channel "shaytards". I think that choice of name is ridiculous, and that it's ridiculous they used it that way. But if you watch their videos dating back to 2009, if you're a car seat junkie....all you can do is scream. They let their little ones under 4'6" ride in the front seat, often in the backseat without boosters, and sometimes the four year old is in an expired Maestro, and sos times they put their 1yr old baby in the expired Maestro, bc he's already outgrowing the Graco Snugride (they've never use a car seat base for it and it's often buckled in incorrectly), and as rich as they are they have never invested in a rf-ff convertible and it's unlikely that they will...it's very likely they will switch him to the expired Maestro which has no recline and his head is too wobbly in it, the straps are too high, the fabric is stained and beat, and the chest clip is always too low on the four year old and too high on the baby when he is in it. I sometimes put this comment on the videos but a bunch of teenage trolls like to say "don't tell them how to parent/myob". Comments are open there for everyone to voice, but no one understand there which is why I'm venting here. If there are any CPST people in Idaho....check out the Butler family at YouTube,com/shaytards , and you'll wanna feel like doing something about it. I'm venting here, I'm venting too much. I will stop now. I don't need replies, I don't need replies, just listening ears. Just listening ears.
 

CMeMeC

New member
Whoa. Who the heck would follow through with all that? I've seen my peds kids in the car and although she promotes extended rear facing and extended harmessing, her own kids are hardly properly restrained. I also have several family members who are state troopers. One has a forward facing 10 month old, when she's restrained (because she doesn't like a car seat) and his 7 year old sometimes wears a seat belt. I am capable of deciding when my kid is reasy for the next step thankyouverymuch. How about you chill out a bit, posts like this really turn people off.
 

murphydog77

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
I think we've all been here at one point or another when we just started out. It's like your eyes are open for the first time and you really start to see all the wrongs of CPS and wonder why no one else cares. Heh, I'm on the other side now--totally jaded--but if no one cared, nothing would get done. But one thing we've all learned through time is to place ourselves in the shoes of the recipient we're addressing.
 

griffinej5

New member
Yeah, the Shaytards thing has to do with unitards, the clothing, not being retarded. I used to watch. I've commented about the poor seat use, and been told off by people. Aside from trying to comment and hope they will change, there's nothing else I can do. The guy is a millionaire (Disney bought the company he's with, and if you saw the house they built, and they still keep an apartment and a car in LA, yeah, they're millionaires).
There are a lot of dumb and ignorant people who do a lot of dumb and ignorant things with their kids. There are a lot of times when the overbearing government comes in and tells people what to do with their kids, while other kids suffer because the government didn't step in. There are plenty of kids in bigger immediate danger, and a nanny state won't fix that.
 

CMeMeC

New member
Maybe I am just dumb and ignorant, (certainly not uneducated) because I turned my oldest kids forward facing before two, but what is so terrible about the "shaytards" car seat use? I don't follow them, but I watched a couple vlogs and I saw a 4 year old in a harness and a baby in an infant seat. Not great, but better than 90% of what I see everyday in the school parking lot.
 

griffinej5

New member
In the most recent video, the 4 year old is maybe in a booster, can't tell. The belt is over his neck. The baby is 17 months old. He's in an infant bucket. He's probably not outgrown by weight, but maybe by height.
I've seen kids in the front seat. The oldest boy is 11, the oldest girl is 9, then 7, the 4 year old and the baby. I've seen the girls with no booster plenty of times. I'm pretty sure I've seen the 4 year old with a belly clip, and playing with his straps he's been so loose.
I wouldn't want to be in a crash with an unrestrained Great Dane either.
 

CMeMeC

New member
In the most recent video, the 4 year old is maybe in a booster, can't tell. The belt is over his neck. The baby is 17 months old. He's in an infant bucket. He's probably not outgrown by weight, but maybe by height.
I've seen kids in the front seat. The oldest boy is 11, the oldest girl is 9, then 7, the 4 year old and the baby. I've seen the girls with no booster plenty of times. I'm pretty sure I've seen the 4 year old with a belly clip, and playing with his straps he's been so loose.
I wouldn't want to be in a crash with an unrestrained Great Dane either.

Yeah...totally didn't get that from the 5 seconds I watched.
 

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