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  4.  – NHTSA Proposes Side Impact Testing for Child Restraint Systems

NHTSA Proposes Side Impact Testing for Child Restraint Systems

| Jan 30, 2014 | Automobile Defects

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA] has proposed upgrades to the federal motor vehicle safety standards [FMVSS] for child restraint systems.  The proposed amendment is to FMVSS No. 213, “Child restraint systems,” to adopt side impact performance requirements for all child seats designed to seat children who weight up to 40 pounds.  This would apply to all child seats sold in the U.S.

Click here to read the full NHTSA announcement: NHTSA Proposes First-Ever Side Impact Test for Child Restraint Systems

The current requirement is for child restraints to meet a dynamic test simulating a 30 miles per hour frontal impact.  The proposed side impact testing will require child seats to be tested in a vehicle-to-vehicle side impact.  In the proposed side impact, car seats must demonstrate they can safely restrain a child by preventing harmful head contact with an intruding vehicle door and reducing the crash forces transmitted to the child’s head and chest.  Car seats would be tested in a sled test that simulates a “T-bone” crash.  The crash would be where the front of a vehicle traveling 30 mph strikes the side of a small passenger vehicle traveling at 15 mph.  Child restraints will be tested with a newly developed instrumented side impact test dummy representing a 3-year-old child, called the Q3s dummy, and with a well-established 12-month-old child test dummy (the Child Restraint Air Bag Interaction (CRABI) dummy).

Click here to read the notice of proposed rule-making: Child Restraint Systems

“Car seats are an essential tool for keeping young children safe in vehicles and have a proven track record of saving lives,” said NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman. “Today we continue to build on our extensive child seat safety program by adding side-impact crash protection for the first time.”

The lawyers at the Brandi Law Firm have represented a number of people involving defective consumer products and people injured due to design defects in automobiles and consumer products. .  The Auto Defect Attorneys at the Brandi Law Firm has successfully represented many people injured from defective Toyotas, Fords, Chryslers, Volkswagens, GM products and numerous other manufacturers and suppliers.  Often times, people involved in accidents do not examine the issues of defective vehicle design or child restraint to determine  whether the car was truly crashworthy – does it contain the appropriate crash protection.  If you or a loved one has been injured in an auto crash, our attorneys at the Brandi Law Firm are available to consult with you.  Please contact our office at 800-481-1615 or email us.

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