All Cars, All the Time

Consumer Reports Infant Seat Test Inaccurate

Consumer Reports magazine backed away from its recent negative report on infant car seats, saying test crashes were conducted at speeds higher than it had claimed. The magazine reported in early January 2007 that most of the seats it tested "failed disastrously" in crashes at speeds as low as 35 mph. In one test, it said, a dummy child was hurled 30 feet.

It all seemed a bit too improbable and now why find out why. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has smacked the nose of CR saying that the crash tests were conducted under conditions that would represent being struck at more than 70 mph. Oops. That's a huge difference.

With the headline grabbing results of the first test null and void, CR will begin retesting soon and have a new report available ASAP. I sure hope they do as good a job publicizing the new results and they did with the first test.