Rear facing infant car seats fail consumer reports front and side crash tests

Pete Strom

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While federal standards mandate that both cars and car seats withstand a 30-mph frontal crash, new cars usually undergo more rigorous testing. Most new cars are tested in both a 35-mph frontal impact collision and a 38-mph side impact collision; yet, infant car seats are only tested in the required 30-mph frontal impact collision. Consumer Reports recently tested 12 infant seats and discovered that only the Baby Trend Flex-Loc and the Graco SnugRide with EPS performed will under the additional tests. Nine of the car seats tested performed poor in at least one of the tests yet still pass the federal safety standards. One of the seats tested actually failed to meet the federal safety standards, the Evenflo Discovery, and Consumer Reports has urged a recall of the seat. Consumer Reports also tested the LATCH system as compared to using vehicle safety belts to connect the car seat to the car. Overall, the report found the LATCH system difficult to use and actually performed worse on most of the safety tests performed. To learn more about the Consumer Reports' testing, click here.