FISTFULAYENAwesome. Our car seat sucks.
We bought the Britax Companion car seat (well actually a friend bought it for us from our registry), which was the highest rated car seat on Consumer Reports at the time. Now CR has tested them under more serious conditions, and has changed their tune. Specifically:
Three seats failed all our tough tests: the Evenflo Discovery, the Graco SafeSeat, and the Britax Companion, formerly our top-rated seat based on earlier tests that mirrored the federal standard. Most other tested seats passed either the front- or side-crash test in some configuration, though only the Baby Trend Flex-Loc and the Graco SnugRide with EPS passed all our tests. (EPS stands for expanded polystyrene, a cushioning material.)
Great. We went from best to worst.
We’re actually not too upset by this. We don’t like this car seat much anyway, and Lucinda hates it. It’s a total pain in the ass to remove from the base, and it comes with this head cocoon for “side impact protection” which has the “side effect” of making Lucinda feel like her head is in a trash compactor and scream for exactly the duration of any ride. How do we know our three month old feels this way? Because when you take the head-engulfing thing out and replace it with one of those lower profile “snuzzli” things the car seat is at least periodically tolerable for her.
We weren’t going to get a new car seat based on it being a pain in the ass. But that coupled with it winning the “most unsafe” black ribbon in Consumer Reports most recent tests makes the decision much easier.
Now the question is, should I feel guilty selling the car seat to someone else? Should I disclose why I’m selling it in my Craigslist post?
ian
Kate wrote:
I wouldn’t feel guilty. Parents, especially new ones, should be wise enough to read up on a product before purchasing. If you disclose the truth, you’ll never sell it. I would recommend the Graco Snug Ride car seat. It’s not sexy, but it is super easy to deal with.
Posted 05 Jan 2007 at 10:26 am ¶
Tracy wrote:
I assume that you are going to sell the seat at a reduced price. As such, you are helping someone get a car seat at a decent price. You didn’t make the car seat and you didn’t break the car seat, so no harm done. If that is the car seat that they want at the price that they want, you are doing them a favor. If they don’t bother to review the seat to the level that you have, that is not your problem.
Posted 05 Jan 2007 at 11:52 am ¶
Jeff wrote:
Id say toss it and call it a day. Actually take a Sawsall to it. If you toss it you dont want someone who sees a freebie to have the loss of a child. The guilt you would have w/o even knowing if anything happened in the future would creep occasionally.
The other thing Id have to say is that if the car seat is tight as hell I doubt a car crash would cause it to go anywhere. Shake the shit out of it to test and if its solid its gotta be good to go.
After going through about 3 different seats I think theyre all sort of wack. That special lock system w/o using the seatbelt blows. I do use it though on top of the seat belt as it makes me feel like if the seat belt fails at least theres backup.
Posted 06 Jan 2007 at 3:38 am ¶
jonathan wrote:
Apparently, Consumer Reports has retracted the revised ratings: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070118/ap_on_bi_ge/infant_seats
Posted 18 Jan 2007 at 10:29 pm ¶
jonathan wrote:
Oh, and here’s the retraction from Consumer Reports: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cu-press-room/pressroom/2007/2/0702_eng0702ccs.htm
I hope you didn’t throw the seat away yet
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 2:49 am ¶
iancr wrote:
Didn’t throw it away, but already bought/installed a new one. Doh. Fuckers.
ian
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 10:08 am ¶
julie wrote:
glen thinks we should file a class action suit against CR. get paid back the money we wasted.
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 2:43 pm ¶
jonathan wrote:
Well at least now you can sell it/give it away in good conscience…
Posted 19 Jan 2007 at 2:57 pm ¶