Evenflo Company Statement: Consumer Reports Car Seat Review Not Consistent With Federal Standards

Evenflo Car Seats Are Safe and Effective - Tested and Proven to Meet or

Exceed Government Standards

    VANDALIA, Ohio, Jan. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Evenflo Company, Inc. is deeply
 concerned that Consumer Reports magazine has decided to publish an article
 that may potentially alarm consumers about the safety of their infant child
 restraints. The magazine decided to publish this article without
 consultation with child seat manufacturers, even though the tests appear to
 have been conducted in October and November of last year. Evenflo is
 committed to manufacturing safe and highly effective car seats that meet or
 exceed government standards. In addition, Evenflo subjects its car seats to
 extensive testing both in-house and through independent laboratories to
 ensure every car seat is compliant before initial sale of its products and
 during ongoing production.
     Despite our request, Consumer Reports has declined to provide us with
 an advance copy of the article, and further declined to disclose in advance
 of publication the pertinent information relating to its underlying test
 conditions and protocols. This is especially unreasonable, given that the
 magazine's test conditions and protocols appear to conflict with the
 collective experience of car seat manufacturers, NHTSA and the scientific
 community. Rigorous tests conducted by NHTSA and Evenflo have consistently
 shown that both the Evenflo Discovery(R) and Evenflo Embrace(TM) exceed
 government standards.
     Without access to the full review of the data collected by Consumer
 Reports, we are unable to provide a detailed assessment of the magazine's
 findings; however, we can offer the following facts and observations about
 the specific Evenflo products that the Consumer Reports article appears to
 discuss:
     Discovery infant child restraint
     Since introducing the model 391 Discovery in April 2005, Evenflo has
 conducted at least 200 dynamic tests at three different laboratories. Most
 of these tests were conducted at test velocities that significantly
 exceeded the forces under the NHTSA standard. None of the tests
 demonstrated any back angle compliance issue. Additionally, NHTSA has twice
 tested the model 391 Discovery and it passed all dynamic testing
 requirements on each occasion. Thus, between Evenflo and NHTSA, there are
 more than 200 passing tests regarding the Discovery at velocities that meet
 or exceed the government standards. Evenflo unequivocally stands behind the
 integrity of its test results and the Discovery(R) child restraint seat and
 disputes the validity of the yet to be disclosed Consumer Reports tests.
 Proper evaluation of those tests requires, at a minimum, information about
 the test setup, the crash pulse, the dummy and any alterations from the
 specifications in 49 CFR 572, as well as any deviations from the test
 protocol set forth in FMVSS 213 and NHTSA document TP-213 Laboratory Test
 Procedure for FMVSS 213. We have requested this information from Consumer
 Reports as well as an opportunity to inspect the Discovery(R) units that
 were actually tested.
     Embrace infant child restraint
     Evenflo likewise unequivocally stands behind its Embrace infant seat.
 Evenflo disputes the validity of the yet to be disclosed Consumer Reports
 test(s) and will review the testing information once provided by Consumer
 Reports. Based on the limited information available to Evenflo at this
 time, however, it appears that the testing protocol and equipment used by
 Consumer Reports in connection with the Embrace infant seat does not
 conform to test methods proposed or adopted by experts from academia,
 industry, test agencies or government entities throughout the world. Put
 simply, there are serious issues with both the test protocol and equipment
 that cast serious doubt on the validity of the test results. Moreover,
 Evenflo is unaware of any material difference in performance when the
 Embrace infant seat is secured by the LATCH method or through use of the
 vehicle seat belt.
     All Evenflo car seats sold today meet thorough standards established by
 NHTSA and are extensively tested by car seat manufacturers and the
 government. Consumer Reports suggestion that the present standards should
 be abandoned in favor of its protocol is inconsistent with real world
 experience and well grounded input from the scientific community received
 in connection with prior consideration by NHTSA to increase the child seat
 crash test speed.
     As noted by independent commentators, there is no evidence to suggest
 that infant child restraints would generally be more effective to protect
 children in real world crashes if designed to meet higher crash speeds. In
 fact, such changes may be counterproductive to the overall safety of car
 seats in real world accidents. Like other car seat manufacturers and NHTSA,
 Evenflo is committed to manufacturing safe and highly effective child
 restraint seats.
     We urge consumers to demand proper disclosure and review of Consumer
 Reports test results and to carefully weigh all relevant information before
 drawing any conclusions based upon Consumer Reports forthcoming article.
     About Evenflo
     Committed to innovation, safety and comfort for more than 85 years,
 Evenflo has been the trusted name in everything babies need to grow, go,
 play and thrive. From bottles and high chairs to carriers and car seats,
 Evenflo creates inspired products for today's active families worldwide.
 Evenflo regularly taps into its Safe Baby and Toddler Council, a group
 comprised of experts from key areas in the field of child care, to provide
 product insights and research. More information can be found at
 http://www.evenflo.com .
     Media Contact:
     Jam Stewart
     Zeno for Evenflo
     312-396-9748
     Jam.stewart@zenogroup.com
 
 

SOURCE Evenflo