Car Seats

Nov. 6 Parents fasten children into car seats thinking they’re ensuring the child’s safety. But chances are, unless the seat was checked by a certified professional, it’s not safe. In AAA Hudson Valley’s annual car seat safety check in Albany this fall, only two out of 47 seats voluntarily checked were used correctly. More than 25 percent of the seats were considered unsafe, outdated or recalled, and the parents were given new seats….Press: McClatchy-Tribune Regional News (USA)

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Parents fasten children into car seats thinking they’re ensuring the child’s safety. But chances are, unless the seat was checked by a certified professional, it’s not safe.In AAA Hudson Valley’s annual car seat safety check in Albany this fall, only two out of 47 seats voluntarily checked were used correctly. More than 25 percent of the seats were considered unsafe, outdated or recalled, and the parents were given new seats….Press: Times Union, The (Albany, NY)

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So you’ve purchased a car seat and strapped it inside the car. Your child is now safe, right? It’s unlikely, said Cindy Dort, occupant protection coordinator at Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Saratoga County, who estimates some 95 percent of all car seats statewide are used improperly, leaving their young occupants at risk.According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly 250,000 children suffer serious injuries in car crashes, and…Press: Daily Gazette, The (Schenectady, NY)

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Malani Ordona didn’t like her new car seat the first time she sat in it, and the 6-month-old baby demonstrated her displeasure by kicking her legs and making unhappy gurgling noises.But 17-pound Malani was no match for Antwanette Lyons, who could probably strap squirmy children into car seats in her sleep. Little Malani had better learn to like that car seat. She’ll be sitting in one for quite a while.Beginning this year, some children who thought they might…Press: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)

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Startled by Consumer Reports’ scathing critique of car seat safety early this month, Adam and Tezsia Mills went shopping. They returned their old infant seat - supposedly unsafe in collisions at speeds exceeding 35 mph - and bought a new one that had withstood the watchdog’s abuse.As it turns out, their now-refunded Graco SafeSeat wasn’t so unsafe after all.Consumer Reports was forced Thursday to retract a damning report on infant car seats after…Press: Salt Lake Tribune, The (UT)

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Ever since a Consumer Reports article about infant car seats that failed crash tests came out last week, Ann King’s phone has been busy.”The most anxious parents are the ones who’ve seen that video clip,” she said.The clip shows Consumer Reports’ testing of an Evenflo Discovery infant seat. In the side-impact crash test, the rear-facing infant seat flies off its base.King, who is coalition coordinator for the SAFE KIDS…Press: Grand Island Independent, The (NE)

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A baby car seat, with all its straps and buckles, prompted hours of joking, ribbing and sign language as a group of African and Central Asian refugees learned how to install the safety seats.World Relief, a nonprofit group in DeKalb County, recently sponsored a car seat class for 10 Somali Bantu women, one Somali man, a woman from Sudan and five Meskhetian Turks– all refugees who have come to Atlanta.The new arrivals learned that the seats are required to comply with the law.In…Press: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (GA)

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Called the “Mother Teresa of car seats,” Lew Moquin has been known to go to those in need. Moquin has met frustrated parents in a parking lot or on their own driveways to calm nerves and boost confidence while installing a child car seat. “Parents get that they need the car seat,” said Pat Manion, trauma coordinator at Genesys Regional Medical Center. “Lew’s mission is that they do it right. I think of him as…Press: Flint Journal, The (MI)

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Drivers who blow off Colorado’s car-seat laws could wind up spending a Friday night at the police station, attending a court-ordered class.The class often is offered by a Municipal Court judge as part of a plea bargain: Get educated on child-safety laws, and the traffic fine could be reduced or even dropped.The offer sits well with Officer Steve Noblitt, who leads a child-passenger safety program for the Colorado Springs Police Department.”I…Press: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)

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David Martin, a state certified child-car seat inspector and nurse at A.L. Lee Memorial Hospital, said he has inspected more than 1,500 child-car seats in the past five years.Of those, 25 to 30 were installed properly, he said. “I haven’t found one right in Fulton,” Martin said last week. “It’s not major problems, just little things, but they add up. … The misuse that we see out there, in a 35 mph crash, these kids would suffer…Press: Post-Standard, The (Syracuse, NY)

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