So what is the reason why US won't approve the Swedish seats?

Raegansmom4

New member
Is there a reason why the US won't regulate and allow the Swedish rear-facing seats to be sold here? I just don't get why these seats are "illegal." It should be a parent's choice if they want to keep their child rfing if the seat can accommodate. Has there been US testing of these seats?
 
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Maedze

New member
It has nothing to do with the US. Any of the companies could choose to bring those seats here and pay for testing and sell them. They choose not to.
 

Raegansmom4

New member
Well that's dumb. Britax already has a solid sales base here in US. If they were readily available here, I'd buy one. Or two.
 

Maedze

New member
I think they believe that the cost of testing in this country, plus the cost of manufacturing the seat, would outweight the profit they'd make from small sales.

I happen to agree that it's extremely stupid and frankly disgraceful on their part.
 

Pixels

New member
Actually, it does have a lot to do with the US. Well, the US, and the design of those 55 pound seats. Many of them (most? all???) require the use of a footprop and rear facing tether. The current test bench for carseats has no floor (so no footprop) and nothing in front to attach a rear facing tether.

They are working on revising the standards right now. It's possible that they will change the test bench to reflect a more modern back seat. I'd be very surprised if they add a "floor" or place to RF tether to the standard test bench. I don't think it's on their radar at this point. Right now, more people are concerned with side impact testing. Of course, the best thing you can do to protect your child from a side impact is to rear face that child, and a 55 pound seat would accomplish that. But most parents would rather buy a forward facing seat that says it has been "side impact tested" than rear face their two year old. :soapbox:
 

Wineaux

New member
I think the bigger question is why the US hasn't just adopted all of the 30+ years of testing data that the Swedes have on car seat safety, and apply that to our own car seat and testing standards. The answer to that sadly is a combination of money and turf. Yes, changing the test sled designs is expensive, but it's a one time expense and should be rather quickly absorbed. The huge expense will be the one borne by the car seat manufacturers, and I guarantee that they are spending GOBS of money lobbying to keep those standards and testing methodologies out of this country. Why? Because quite frankly I'll bet you dollars to donuts that a good number of seats with huge sales numbers will fail those tests. THAT will cost the seat manufacturers a fortune, and THAT is why they spend so much money on lobbyists to keep Swedish, and even Canadian standards out of the USA. You can give me lip service about how it will make car seats too expensive for the poor here in America, and I'll just point you to affordable seats sold in countries that do more stringent testing with more realistic test beds and more realistic crash scenarios. If need be, then we just give vouchers for all to partial payment of seats via sCHIP, WIC, or Medicare/Medicaid.

Remember, these car seat companies are not non-profit organizations, and they already produce seats for Canadian, European, and Swedish standards. They already produce affordable seats that adhere to those standards as well. They just don't make near as much profit as they do making seats for countries with more lax standards. Their testing, design, and material costs are lower here, so they make more money on a seat that sells for roughly (considering exchange rates) what a comparable seat sells for in countries with more realistic testing procedures. It's that simple.

As for turf, it's pretty obvious that our government has always been reluctant to accept scientific safety data from other countries because we didn't think of it first. Well, that and lawmakers risking contribution dollars and losing elections because they ticked off some part of corporate America by adopting something that might be financially onerous to them. Regardless of the fact that said scientific safety data would save lives or the environment. Quite frankly, we American's created the bed we are lying in right now, and until we the voters finally get tired of getting screwed by both political parties and band together to make sweeping changes, it will never change significantly.
 

outnumberedby6

New member
I think the bigger question is why the US hasn't just adopted all of the 30+ years of testing data that the Swedes have on car seat safety, and apply that to our own car seat and testing standards. The answer to that sadly is a combination of money and turf. Yes, changing the test sled designs is expensive, but it's a one time expense and should be rather quickly absorbed. The huge expense will be the one borne by the car seat manufacturers, and I guarantee that they are spending GOBS of money lobbying to keep those standards and testing methodologies out of this country. Why? Because quite frankly I'll bet you dollars to donuts that a good number of seats with huge sales numbers will fail those tests. THAT will cost the seat manufacturers a fortune, and THAT is why they spend so much money on lobbyists to keep Swedish, and even Canadian standards out of the USA. You can give me lip service about how it will make car seats too expensive for the poor here in America, and I'll just point you to affordable seats sold in countries that do more stringent testing with more realistic test beds and more realistic crash scenarios. If need be, then we just give vouchers for all to partial payment of seats via sCHIP, WIC, or Medicare/Medicaid.

Remember, these car seat companies are not non-profit organizations, and they already produce seats for Canadian, European, and Swedish standards. They already produce affordable seats that adhere to those standards as well. They just don't make near as much profit as they do making seats for countries with more lax standards. Their testing, design, and material costs are lower here, so they make more money on a seat that sells for roughly (considering exchange rates) what a comparable seat sells for in countries with more realistic testing procedures. It's that simple.

As for turf, it's pretty obvious that our government has always been reluctant to accept scientific safety data from other countries because we didn't think of it first. Well, that and lawmakers risking contribution dollars and losing elections because they ticked off some part of corporate America by adopting something that might be financially onerous to them. Regardless of the fact that said scientific safety data would save lives or the environment. Quite frankly, we American's created the bed we are lying in right now, and until we the voters finally get tired of getting screwed by both political parties and band together to make sweeping changes, it will never change significantly.

well, all i can say is, wow.:yeahthat::bow:

nicely put!
 

Raegansmom4

New member
I think the bigger question is why the US hasn't just adopted all of the 30+ years of testing data that the Swedes have on car seat safety, and apply that to our own car seat and testing standards. The answer to that sadly is a combination of money and turf. Yes, changing the test sled designs is expensive, but it's a one time expense and should be rather quickly absorbed. The huge expense will be the one borne by the car seat manufacturers, and I guarantee that they are spending GOBS of money lobbying to keep those standards and testing methodologies out of this country. Why? Because quite frankly I'll bet you dollars to donuts that a good number of seats with huge sales numbers will fail those tests. THAT will cost the seat manufacturers a fortune, and THAT is why they spend so much money on lobbyists to keep Swedish, and even Canadian standards out of the USA. You can give me lip service about how it will make car seats too expensive for the poor here in America, and I'll just point you to affordable seats sold in countries that do more stringent testing with more realistic test beds and more realistic crash scenarios. If need be, then we just give vouchers for all to partial payment of seats via sCHIP, WIC, or Medicare/Medicaid.

Remember, these car seat companies are not non-profit organizations, and they already produce seats for Canadian, European, and Swedish standards. They already produce affordable seats that adhere to those standards as well. They just don't make near as much profit as they do making seats for countries with more lax standards. Their testing, design, and material costs are lower here, so they make more money on a seat that sells for roughly (considering exchange rates) what a comparable seat sells for in countries with more realistic testing procedures. It's that simple.

As for turf, it's pretty obvious that our government has always been reluctant to accept scientific safety data from other countries because we didn't think of it first. Well, that and lawmakers risking contribution dollars and losing elections because they ticked off some part of corporate America by adopting something that might be financially onerous to them. Regardless of the fact that said scientific safety data would save lives or the environment. Quite frankly, we American's created the bed we are lying in right now, and until we the voters finally get tired of getting screwed by both political parties and band together to make sweeping changes, it will never change significantly.

Much more intelligent response than my previous "well that's dumb"! yeah, let's ignore testing data from another country b/c the all-powerful US didn't come up w/ it ourselves. I do see the point that the number of sales they would get from 55 lb rf seats would be pretty low compared to say, the AOE sales. Boo.
 

Wineaux

New member
Yes, by adopting the Swedish testing and car seat standard there would be considerably less car seat churn. If you buy a seat that will last until your child is booster ready, then the seat manufacturers sell fewer seats. That said, with the current move to 40-45 lb RF seats, we're headed that way anyways. At least for those folks who both pay attention and really know, care, or are correctly taught about child car seat safety.
 

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