Parents know a child car seat is one of the most important products they can buy. The seats must help protect the tiniest cargo in an emergency.
Consumer Reports' exclusive child car seat testing recently revealed significant problems with two infant seats.
Here’s more on what the tests found and what parents can do.
During its latest round of child car seat testing, Consumer Reports found two seats with concerning results.
The Diono LiteClik30 XT infant car seat and the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio 4-35 Urban Mobility baseless infant seat.
While both of these infant car seats meet federal safety standards and have no reported incidents associated with them, they both suffered significant structural integrity issues in CR’s most recent round of crash tests.
Consumer Reports’ tests are more rigorous than those required by the government, simulating the forces of a thirty-five mile per hour crash instead of 30 mph.
CR’s test also uses a real vehicle seat and front seat back to better replicate a real-world crash.
CR’s tests of child seats only simulate a car crash with one impact, but of course, in the real world crashes can involve multiple impacts.
If a child car seat shows significant damage after one test impact, like Diono and Peg Perego did, that’s a major concern.
Diono said it is committed to the safety of all child passengers and that it was thoroughly investigating the questions raised by CR’s testing.
Peg Perego said additional tests conducted using CR’s protocol did not reveal any structural breakages or raise any concerns about the product’s integrity.
If you own one of these seats, you can contact the manufacturer, although neither Diono nor Peg Perego has issued a recall.
If you’re looking for an infant seat that earns CR’s top safety scores, consider the Clek Liing with a “load leg'' support that extends from a child car seat’s base to the vehicle’s floor for additional crash protection safety.
CR also recommends the reasonably priced Chicco KeyFit, which has top safety scores and is rated as one of the easiest seats to install.
To help you make the best and safest choice, try Consumer Reports free infant child car seat finder. We’ll link you to it from our website.