Almost a year ago, NBC Target 5 reporter Lisa Parker reported on a father’s efforts to alert the manufacturer, NHTSA and the public to a problem he found with his Dorel Juvenile Group car seat. He documented on a YouTube video that the harness could pull loose when it was supposed to be locked in place. This could prove dangerous in a crash — allowing the occupant to fly out of the car seat or even if retained, suffer injuries from the additional movement allowed.
That was early 2010, now a year later, NHTSA and Dorel announced the recall today for thousands of car seats manufactured between April 2008 and the end of May 2009. The brand names are varied and include Safety First, Eddie Bauer, Dorel and others as well as both convertible seats, infant seats and those sold with travel systems — so if you have a Dorel car seat — check the recall notice. Carseatblog.com has taken the time to correlate model numbers with brands and names.
Dorel is providing lubricant which is intended to make the latch work as required. NHTSA is asking for anyone having harness issues with one of these car seats to report it through safercars.gov. It is interesting to note that the date NHTSA’s official investigation was opened(3/5/10) corresponds exactly to NBC Target 5’s story on the air! Our friends at Safety Squad are quoted in the story as well!
