Child car seats recalled

Child car seats are an essential part of keeping children safe in vehicles in case of an accident but what if you learned that your child’s car seat isn’t doing its job? Graco’s child car seats are not living up to their expectations as nearly 3.8 million of them have had to be recalled due to overwhelming concerns that instead of saving a child’s live in the midst of an accident, they may be putting infant’s lives at risk. 

11 of the models made through from 2009 to 2013 by the Graco Children’s Product Company are to be returned as the buckles of the seats often fail to unlatch which can cause a huge, even life threatening problem if a child were to be trapped in an emergency. An additional 1.8 million seats have yet to be recalled and could be putting children at risk at this very moment. Tests on Graco’s buckles have proved that they tend to become hard and sticky to use over time which can make it difficult to unlatch in case of emergency. However, Graco have said that this may be due to food and drinks that have spilt on the buckles over time. Graco are offering customers free buckle replacements however the company have been criticised by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) who have said that the recall has still failed to retract seven models with the exact same hazardous buckles. According to the Daily Mail, the NHTSA have said that:

“Some of these consumers have had no choice but to resort to the extreme measure of cutting the harness straps to remove their child from the car seat.”

Graco spokeswoman, Ashley Mowrey said that Graco has issued cleaning tips for the buckles and replacements have been sent to customers as far back as last summer. Instructions describing the steps to replace these buckles are also included as well as a possible video instructive tutorial to show parents how to replace them.

Craig Gray, Service Centre Manager at CarShop also commented on the issue,

“Child safety within vehicles is paramount, with child seats being key to keeping the child secure in case of a collision. It’s extremely concerning to learn that Graco has had to recall nearly 3.8 million of their car seats due to the possibility of children becoming trapped in an emergency. We hope to see more thorough testing from Graco and other car seat manufacturers in the future.”

Despite this, the NHTSA have advised people to purchase a completely different safety seat for their children in the meantime. The NHTSA have also accused Graco of soft-pedalling the recall with ‘incomplete and misleading’ documents. The NHTSA are currently in contact with AmSafe to identify any additional child seat manufacturers that use similar harness buckles that could be potentially dangerous.