side impact

yogamom · Dec 23, 2008

Hello all,

I am looking for a little help regarding side impact protection. As I understand it US seat manufacturers do not have requirements for side impact collisions, but in Europe they do. I read in an article that by the end of this year there should be some regulation put in place, could anybody tell me whether this has happened? It seems as though it is an important subject since side impacts apparently account for 25% of accidents.

I've read many reviews on seats and even the upper end britax models which claim "True side impact protection" don't seem to have any INDEPENDENT method of testing

, and it seems more like a marketing ploy than a way of keeping kids safe. I'd be interested to know if there is a public record (possibly by insurance companies) of car seats involved in accidents and what if any (hopefully none

) injuries resulted.

Defrost · Dec 24, 2008

Nope - there are currently no regulations for testing carseats for side-impact in the U.S. There is some testing being done - an Evenflo infant seat was recalled last year for poor performance in a side-impact test, but I'm not sure what standards they were using.

As far as I know, no one's keeping records of injuries/fatalities related to specific carseats (regardless of the type of crash), except perhaps some manufacturers, and they don't share those results with the public.

I would think that with the U.S. coming out with regulations and standards for testing, manufacturers who claim "side-impact protection" would be doing more than just slapping that label on their seats - otherwise they're going to wind up with egg on their faces if their seats don't meet the standards once they're in place. But you're correct - we really have no way of knowing for sure how much "side-impact protection" a seat really has; we just have to take the manufacturer's word for it.

Victorious4 · Dec 24, 2008

Defrost said:
we just have to take the manufacturer's word for it.

Yep. However, the testing @ OEAMTC (Austrian carseat crash testing) does show that seats with the deepest head wings tend to generally perform the best in side impact. So, I personally trust those manufacturers whose seats in the US have equivalent versions tested by OEAMTC (such as Britax/Romer, etc.) Their website isn't as user friendly as it once was, IMHO, but the videos speak for themselves.

LISmama810 · Dec 24, 2008

Defrost said:
Nope - there are currently no regulations for testing carseats for side-impact in the U.S. There is some testing being done - an Evenflo infant seat was recalled last year for poor performance in a side-impact test, but I'm not sure what standards they were using.

I don't remember if I read it here, or if it was from talking to someone from SafetyBeltSafe, but I heard that the Evenflo seats were tested in a CAR that was being side-impact tested. In other words, it wasn't a typical car-seat sled test, but rather a side-impact test on a vehicle in which they had also installed the infant seat. (I would also imagine there was more than one test done, but I have no idea, or how many.)

I know that doesn't answer the original question, but I thought it was an interesting tidbit.

snowbird25ca · Dec 24, 2008

LISmama810 said:
I don't remember if I read it here, or if it was from talking to someone from SafetyBeltSafe, but I heard that the Evenflo seats were tested in a CAR that was being side-impact tested. In other words, it wasn't a typical car-seat sled test, but rather a side-impact test on a vehicle in which they had also installed the infant seat. (I would also imagine there was more than one test done, but I have no idea, or how many.)

I know that doesn't answer the original question, but I thought it was an interesting tidbit.

Definitely an interesting tidbit. I know that the Evenflo marketing tags say that it's Evenflo side impact testing standards or something to that effect. Which I might otherwise poo-poo except for Britax also has their own standards. In fact so far as I know, Recaro is the only one to state that their seats meet EU SIP standards. I know the True Fit has some sort of side impact testing done on it, but I'm not sure exactly what. It has such a deep shell that I do believe it has loads of side impact protection from that aspect alone, but obviously I can't vouch beyond that.

thepeach80 · Dec 24, 2008

I think the side impact testing standards they are putting in place are for cars, not carseats. I'm assuming after they get those standards in stone, we'll have more seats tested to those levels and it will mean more.

side impact

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