FMVSS certification question

twinsmom

New member
I am curious about the testing done in the US of carseats and the FMVSS standard. This information is from snowbird25ca from another thread:


"Actually, FMVSS standard being self certification means that manufacturers perform testing on their seats and determine whether or not they meet the standards as required by FMVSS. It's a pretty simple meets or doesn't meet. If the manufacturer determines that his/her seat meets FMVSS standards, then they can sell the seat in the US......Self certification simply means that the manufacturer is doing the testing and determining that it passes, submitting the paper work to the regulating body, and then marketing the seat without formal approval from the regulating body."

With this being the procedure, what is keeping the manufacturers "honest"?
 
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Maedze

New member
The gubmint can pull the seats off the shelves once they are being distributed and test them :cool:

That being said, it's a poor system on many levels and desperately needs updating.
 

twinsmom

New member
The gubmint can pull the seats off the shelves once they are being distributed and test them :cool:

That being said, it's a poor system on many levels and desperately needs updating.

So the govt does tests after the seats are on the market? Do they test automatically, or only if someone's child is injured or worse? You are right that it seems to be a poor system....makes it more annoying that we can't import seats that pass other country's regs.
 

Maedze

New member
I'm not sure that there is a defined system or time frame for testing. I know they touched on it in tech class but I'm drawing a blank. I'm guessing the government is relying more and more on self-regulation esp. with massive budget cuts lately.
 

twinsmom

New member
We all know how well self-regulation worked on Wall Street :eek:

What a shame. I'm not sure any for-profit company can be trusted to self-regulate.:( Thanks for the info.
 

Pixels

New member
They don't test every single aspect of it though. If you notice in the link that Julie posted, they don't even come close to testing in every possible configuration (all the dummies, reclined and not where allowed, every different combination of lap belt/top tether/lower anchors, etc.). They also don't test head excursion on any of the RFing seats. Head excursion is not exempted for RFing seats in FMVSS, yet the gov't doesn't test it. I remember seeing an article a while ago that a lot (possibly a majority, I don't recall) of RFing seats failed the head excursion requirement.

Even when the government tests seats and they fail, I don't think it automatically results in a recall of those seats. In 2006 (the most recent year for which we have data), the Regent and Decathlon both failed.
 

o_mom

New member
They don't test every single aspect of it though. If you notice in the link that Julie posted, they don't even come close to testing in every possible configuration (all the dummies, reclined and not where allowed, every different combination of lap belt/top tether/lower anchors, etc.). They also don't test head excursion on any of the RFing seats. Head excursion is not exempted for RFing seats in FMVSS, yet the gov't doesn't test it. I remember seeing an article a while ago that a lot (possibly a majority, I don't recall) of RFing seats failed the head excursion requirement.

Even when the government tests seats and they fail, I don't think it automatically results in a recall of those seats. In 2006 (the most recent year for which we have data), the Regent and Decathlon both failed.

I'm not sure what head excursion you are talking about for the rear-facing seats. From what I am reading, the applicible section of FMVSS 213 is S5.1.3. S5.1.3.1 covers "Child restraint systems other than rear-facing ones and carbeds" and has the usuall 720 and 813mm HE criteria. For rear-facing, the section S5.1.3.2 only says that as long as the center of mass of the head does not go higher than the top of the seat, it passes. That is a Pass/Fail criteria, not a measurement.

The summary that Julie linked to is just a summary. There are detailed reports that show every measurement made and pass/fail on all criteria. For some reason they are no longer linked within the PDFs, but you used to be able to pull them all up and see all the detail. Not showing on the summary report does not mean it wasn't measured.
 

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