Which car Reports?

We asked CR to release the complete crash test outcomes per seat – as opposed to an averaged evaluation for every seat. Other ICRT members discharge complete crash test results. To the right is a screenshot of a rating from Which UK for a motor vehicle chair that can be a forward-facing 5-point harness, after which becomes a top straight back booster, after which a backless booster. Whilst general rating with this seat seems bad (only 1 star) a parent can find out a lot in regards to the best way to utilize their chair by taking a look at this. They may be able note that it does well in a crash as a 5-point use (4 stars), yet not aswell when you look at the booster modes (1 or 3 stars). Therefore, a parent makes an educated choice to carry on by using this seat in harnessed mode – maybe passing it down to a younger kid just who needs a harness and having an unusual booster for the older youngster – instead of switching this seat to booster mode and buying an innovative new harnessed seat for a younger son or daughter.

Various set up techniques -> possibility differentials in protection

A convertible carseat in america has 9 different set up practices (see below).

• 1. Rear-facing with lap belt
• 2. Rear-facing with shoulder/lap gear
• 3. Rear-facing with reduced LATCH
• 4 & 5. Forward-facing with lap gear +/- tether
• 6 & 7. Forward-facing with shoulder/lap gear +/- tether
• 8 & 9. Forward-facing with LATCH (lower anchors +/- tether)

Here you will find the configurations that CR useful for screening convertibles

Chances are that some practices offer exceptional crash protection than others. With CR’s reviews it is impractical to understand how the chair did in each one of these methods as each convertible chair merely gets one score of fundamental, Better, or perfect for its crash overall performance. CR doesn’t even divide the ratings by rear-facing & forward-facing!

Why should you care? If you were buying a car seat and knew you’d be installing it in the center of your car with a lap belt, wouldn’t you want to know which car seat performed best in that situation? If you have captain’s chairs in your minivan and could install with either LATCH or the shoulder/lap belt, wouldn’t you want to know if the car seat you bought offered better crash protection with one of these installation methods than the other? Rigid LATCH systems are rare in the US (but very common in Europe) and have ease of installation and safety benefits in a crash… and if parents were to see that there was better crash performance with these seats we may see more manufacturers offer this in the US. A more complete sharing of the data would undoubtedly be in the consumer’s interest.