Bill's Safety Blog 2007 & 2008

2 January 2008
24 June 2007
Mother Proof : A quest for the quintessential mom-mobile
If you have been watching this space, sorry, too many car seats, too little time. I have been teaching CPS technician classes in Colorado & Nebraska. And I have been learning cool things from students! The web site featured here is one of them. Check it out yourself. I ran across it a year or two ago and recently had the web site founder, Kristin Varela, as a CPS technician student. Great resource for moms and a mom who is going places! I've got a few rants to post and I will fill in the missing entries.

19 February 2007
NHTSA - February 8, 2007: Making safety seats easier to install?
If you have been watching this space, sorry for the absense. Computer problems. Resolved for now, so another couple blogs on this NHTSA proposal and other topics will be here in a few days.

5 January 2007
Consumer Reports - February 2007 Safety alert: What if this were your child?
Here they go again, so don't panic. Not that I have any issue with the findings, I have blogged about these issues in the past. The botton line is the weak link in the safety system; apathy. Most of what we do in this country is geared toward convenience, not safety. The LATCH system (Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren) is one of these systems. No wonder it allows car seats to fail the Consumer Reports tests that are part of this report. I have taken on LATCH in the past and will make that blog available again in a few days.

Returning to this report, I do aplaud what Consumer Reports has done, it is just that I am not happy with their method of getting this information out to the consuming public. Panic only helps magazine sales, news outlets and web sites :). The real issue is, and should be, the lack of real safety performance requirements that we, the consuming public, accept. This article highlights the fact that car seats are only tested in a simulated 30 mph crash. This is fine if you expect to have a car crash at 30 mph. Slower speeds are OK, maybe, so what about crashes that occur at greater than 30 mph, as many do? The statement that "any car seat is better than no car seat" is one I do agree with. But, why should we and do we settle for such sub-par safety performance requirements when other parts of the world have lead the way with better safety and performance requirements for car seats, cars and related products? We get back to convenience.

Like the LATCH and testing issues, I also have blogged on convenience. See my 2006 bloggs to brush up. As for crash testing speed, testing only at 30 mph is not "real" world. Crash speeds vary and you can not test for every speed or environment that a crash could occur at. That said, I believe that we should test at a minimum of 3 different crash speeds to give more comprehensive results. Since side-impact crash test performance requirements are not yet standardized, why not look to car seats made to stricter standards and imported for sale in this country. Consumer Reports did look at some of these seats and made good conclusions about their use. Not only do I agree with looking at these products, for the reasons outlined in the article, I absolutely agree with the use of adult seat belt systems for installing and restraining the car seats and NOT using LATCH.

I will not take on brands or models as Consumer Reports has done. They have better laywers than I do. I am also not trying to take on a Consumers Union, Consumer Reports or NHTSA, though there are concerns I have. As a car seat technician/instructor who is committed to helping anyone who calls or shows up at one of my car seat fit events, I have a responsibility to help any family with any product they arrive with. Even car seats that may have not had the performance results in the Consumer Reports tests that we would all prefer are better than no car seat. No one, no program, no government can afford to replace every 'bad' car seat that arrives at a safety check. Like it or not, people buy what they like, what they can afford and use what they have. If we could reduce the number of improperly installed car seats, we would improve children's safety far more than this article will. But I digress.

The statement that was heard on NPR and many TV news programs indicating that "if the crash occures at the 30 mph standard for performance, then the car and car seat are designed to provide the safest environment possible for a child" is based on good reasoning. The follow-on stating that "if the crash occurs at the newer 35 mph for front impact or 38 mph for side impact crashes, then the child is now in the least safe seating arrangement" is very problematic. You can not respnsibly follow the straight line logical thinking that Consumer Reports uses to come to this conclusion. We just dont know. Stated earlier, the "any car seat is better than no car seat" must apply here. As an industry, we know that a lack of performance requirements for side impact crashes is a problem. I have seen and done crash reconstruction involving side impact crashes with results that would lead some to NEVER transport their children in a car again. You don't often get to pick your crash. Even if the current performance requirements for car seats and cars do not align, use that car seat. Then, write your congress person and get NHTSA to adopt better crash performance requirements for car seats.

As with many safety topics, once they make the headlines, the process to address the "issue" often over shadows the real issue at hand. Knee-jerk reactions make horrible laws and we are burdened by many horrible laws for the sake of safety. When car seats made the transition from entertainment device to safety device, about 20 years ago, we did see an improvement in children's safety. Since the introduction of standardized safety instruction and the CPS Technician program, we have done a lot to improve safety of and the installation of car seats. We have a long way to go. Consumer Reports talks about installers. Car Seat Technicians are NOT installers or an installation service. The only car seat installers should be parents. Period. The assistants that installed the car seats for these test should be NHTSA Certified CPS Technicians or Technician/Instructors, not 'installers'. The information presented on the web site and in news media does not indicate the education level of the 'installers'. Only properly trained and certified persons should be conducting these tests. Consumers Union; please disclose the certification numbers of these individuals.

As for the rest of the world, Consumer Reports has a good article on European car seats, represented by England. In reality, they only scratch the surface. I have blogged on this, so I will forward you on to the article they have on their web site. Consumer Reports - A seat sold abroad outperforms U.S. models. In reality it is not fair to make direct comparisons of US and European car seats. Why? The legal, social and economic environments are very different. Sure it looks like we drive the same cars, but looks are where the similarity stops. Until Americans are willing to accept socialized medecine, accept responsibility for their own actions, look at safety over their own convenience, change their views on product liability, involve themselves more activly in legislation and recycle, we will continue to lag behind much of the developed world. Car seat manufacturers in this country give us what we want: inexpensive, functional products that meet the crash and safety performance requirements of the laws we are willing to accept. Period.

If we want more, it is usually nicer fabric coverings or more variety in color. We value choice, a free capitolist market, over safety. If safety was of more value to the average parent, I would not have the time to write this blog. I would be meeting with parents for car seat and safety education every available hour of the day. In the town of 100,000 in which I live, we are having a baby boom. With about 5 car seat technicians in the community, we meet with about 20% of all the parents who are delivering children. This does not include all the parents with children. 99 of 100 car seats I check is installed with some error. Are they life threatening errors? Depends on the crash the parents plan to have. Simple oversights can be killers in the wrong crash. Most errors are most likely to not be a life or death situation waiting to happen, but you NEVER know. I am not willing to take that chance. Are you?

Some other resources:
Safe Kids Metro Denver 1-5-07
Focus On Safety In and Around Cars


1 January 2007
Remember, the BEST car seat is the one that fits your child, fits your car and can be installed and used safely everytime your child(ren) are in the car. Hang on, this year should be interesting. I expect I'll have a lot to say!

Link to 2006 blog entries.

Bill Flinchbaugh is a NHTSA Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician/Instructor with over 30 years of safety research, product design, instruction and education experience. Views expressed are a combination of his own research, NHTSA curriculum, peer input, this education foundation (CCASAF.Org) work and lots of experience. The 2006 blog entries will re-posted in a few days. Lastly, this guy can talk, so becareful what you wish for and read with passion.

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