BRITAX ANNOUNCES SAFETY RECALL

CHARLOTTE, NC (August 17, 2007) – Britax Child Safety, Inc. announced that it is conducting a safety recall on the Decathlon child restraint, Model Number E9L47. The recall includes production of the Decathlon from February 12, 2005 through July 31, 2007.
Under certain circumstances, when the harness adjuster strap is pulled from an extreme side angle, the bezel may separate from the child restraint shell allowing the adjuster to move out of position inside the shell housing. Under these conditions, caregivers may experience some difficulty while trying to properly harness the child to the restraint.
Extensive product testing has determined that there is no risk of the adjuster and bezel separating from the child restraint while the harness is properly positioned and the child is snugly secured during transit. There have been no reported accidents or injuries.
To address this issue, Britax will send all owners two push rivet fasteners to secure the adjuster to the child restraint. This quick modification will prevent the possibility of having the adjuster move out of position inside of the shell housing. Registered owners of the Decathlon child restraint will automatically be notified and sent complete instructions and push rivet fasteners by mail beginning August 17, 2007. To assist in this process video instructions are available on the Britax website, at http://www.britaxusa.com/. The modification will take less than five minutes to complete.
Until the push rivet fasteners are received and installed, this child restraint is safe to use as long as the bezel is securely positioned within the child restraint. Britax recommends that caregivers pull the harness adjuster strap straight out from the restraint and parallel to the ground when tightening the harness to secure the child. This will minimize the chance of the bezel separating from the child restraint. Should the bezel become loose, consumers should contact Britax.
Decathlon child restraints manufactured from February 12, 2005 through July 31, 2007 are affected by this recall. The date of manufacturer and model number may be found on the white label located near the top of the restraint on the child’s left hand side under the cover.
Owners of the Decathlon that have not registered their product should contact the Britax information line, toll free at 1-800-683-2045 or register online at http://www.britaxusa.com/. Consumers may also order repair kits online at http://www.decathlonrecall.com/.
Even if the restraint is operating normally, all owners of this restraint are strongly advised to make the required modification once the fasteners are received.
Britax has made manufacturing changes that resolve this issue in Decathlon restraints manufactured after August 1, 2007.
For more information, contact the Britax information line, 1-800-683-2045.

RECALL: Graco ComfortSport

Graco Children's Products Inc. announced a Safety Notice for the ComfortSport 5-point harness convertible car seat. On some of the 276,921 ComfortSport car seats manufactured in Ohio from January 2, 2007 through July 31, 2007, the Lower Anchorage belt may have been misrouted during the assembly process. As a result, the seat back angle can exceed 70 degrees in a frontal crash. This increased rotation of the car seat may increase the risk of injury. No injuries have been reported related to this issue.This Safety Notice may affect ComfortSport car seats with the following model numbers: 8629TWL, 8630MTR, 8631DFT, 8631DRA, 8632PSO, 8635TAC,8639COS, 8C00BLG, 8C00DMN, 8C00GRP, 8C00LNW, 8C00MID, 8C00TMB, 8C01SVD,8C01WTN, 8C02MGI, 8C02MRC, 8C03HAL, 8C03WCF, 8C04FRR, 8433FOF. The model number and date of manufacture can be found on the label on the back of the car seat. These seats were sold in mass merchandisers, specialty retailers and department stores from January 2007 through August 2007. Graco will mail, to all known ComfortSport owners with a seat manufactured between January 2, 2007 and July 31, 2007, instructions to correct this misrouting. In addition, Graco will email these instructionsto those consumers who provided their email address to Graco. Consumers who own but have not registered their ComfortSport car seat should call 1-800-345-4109 Monday-Friday between 8 am & 5 pm EST or visit Graco's website 24 hours a day to determine whether their ComfortSport car seat may be affected and to obtain instructions on how to correctly route the Lower Anchorage belt. When calling Graco, consumers should have the model number and date of manufacture of the car seat readily available. Consumers should not use the seat in the rear-facing position withLATCH until the belt routing has been inspected and, if necessary,corrected. The vehicle seatbelt can be used instead of LATCH in themeantime. However, consumers who have rerouted their Lower Anchorage belt according to the instruction manual for use in the forward-facing mode are not affected by this Safety Notice.

Car Seat Safety - Resources, laws, installations, guidelines

The percentages of incorrectly installed car seats are staggering! You read that the % of incorrectly installed car seats ranges from anywhere in the low 70's to upper 80's. Through the efforts of some fabulous organizations these percentages are declining but not fast enough.

As a NHTSA Certified Car Seat Technician, I know 1st hand that these percentages are still very high. These percentages include minor infractions such as not having a rear tether tight enough or not having the seat installed at precisely the right angle but even that could have a negative effect if you are in an accident. On the reverse of that some people get creative with their car seat installations and go over board. There are the parents who just don't seem to care and barely have their car seats buckled in. Please take the time to get educated, read your car seat & vehicles manuals and make sure your child's car seat is installed correctly.

I have compiled a list of helpful and informative websites below as a good place to start. I tried to give a brief synopsis of each site but I couldn't do that complete justice in a blog entry. Take the time to navigate each site. The information may be repetitive in some areas but you can't learn too much on this topic.

• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) - They have a large amount of information relating to car safety seats and transportation safety. Some are their guidelines that they put out and others are links to differing organizations like NHTSA (see below) or Seatcheck.org (see below). They are a good starting point for information.


• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) - This site covers everything related to highway traffic safety. The link takes you directly to their car seat safety section. NHTSA is committed to providing the most accurate and complete information available to its customers, the American traveling public, in a helpful and courteous fashion. In all of our activities, we will strive to meet or beat our established deadlines for providing customer service.


• Safe Kids USA - Safe Kids Worldwide is a global network of organizations whose mission is to prevent accidental childhood injury, a leading killer of children 14 and under. They have some excellent resources for car seat safety. This site has a ton of great resources like Safe Kids Buckle Up, their child passenger safety program. There is a car seat inspection station finder and a look up for each state's child safety laws and regulations. They also offer other links on car seat safety and advocacy.


• SeatCheck.org - SeatCheck is a national campaign to help parents properly secure their children in motor vehicles. Central to their program is a free child safety seat inspection locator service on their website. These SeatCheck resources provide a listing of more than 4,000 local inspection locations staffed by trained and certified child safety seat technicians, so finding one near you should be easy. In addition they offer safety tips, LATCH information, recall lists, and various fact sheets and press releases related to the topic.


• The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) - The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia are great advocates for child passenger safety. CHOP along with State Farm Insurance teamed up to create Partners for Child Passenger Safety. Their site was developed by Partners for Child Passenger Safety to help parents and caregivers learn more about child safety seats, booster seats and seat belts. They offer detailed information and videos on how to properly install your child's' infant, toddler or booster seat. They also have sections devoted to LATCH and airbags. The videos are a great resource when you can't get to a location that can help you properly install your car seat.

These are only a few of the many resources available online. I felt these were the best options for someone needing to learn about car seat safety. So now, get educated, install your seats properly and don't forget to buckle up!