As parents we are always concerned about the safety of our children, especially newborns being welcomed into the world. With a full line of products to enhance our living experience with a newborn, we are faced with many decisions as to what types of products to buy, what are the safety ratings and their practicability.
When it comes to car seats, you want to get something that is not only fitting to your car seating arrangement, but comfortable for baby as well. There are many different makes and models to choose from and at times it can be very difficult to figure which best suits you. Each one offers written “quality and safety” features on the box however labeling may not always read true.
I am personally a fan of Graco’s line of products, however prior to owning anything from them, I was probably like you, in the local shopping center looking for a car seat while the wife was in the hospital, a few hours before, awaiting her delivery. Price was a concern at the time, which after reading this, I hope you will reconsider prices before purchasing a car seat.
I purchased an Even Flo – Discovery 5 Infant Car Seat, in the Pink Pearls color, which I thought was very cute, since we were going to have a baby girl. This was a huge mistake. I took cheap price and “cuteness” and let my impulsiveness overrun my decision making. This car seat sells for a little under sixty dollar at Wal-Mart, where I purchased it.
The car seat was easy to install. That much credit I will give it. That and the fact it had a Z shaped handle which made it easier to tote our baby girl around. The bad part about the car seat is it’s failures to do what it was meant to do. Restrain and Infant in the instance of a automobile accident.
My family and I were heading out for dinner on a Thursday evening when a Toyota pickup truck smashed into us while we were sitting still at a red light. It was a rear end collision and the damage was pretty extensive, which totaled our Ford Taurus. After my wife and I came back to our senses, we could hear our baby girl crying in terror. We jumped out of the vehicle and to my amazement, our sons Graco made car seat held our son in very securely, however, our baby girl had ejected from her car seat which was the Even Flo.
Once the Fire Chief arrived on scene with the paramedics, he looked at our car seat as he could not believe that she had ejected from her car seat. It just did not seem feasible. After examining it, he stated very clearly and sternly that this was not an infant car seat and that if Even Flo said it were, it was not built properly to safely restrain an infant. He seemed very upset that this was a so called “infant” car seat. He went on further to say that it was possibly decent for a eight or nine month old, but not an infant.
Upon further inspection it was deemed that the rear hidden straps behind the frame of the car seat had given out due to the force of the impact of the Toyota. The straps were supposed to naturally lock and restrain, however they did not, and as soon as impact occurred, the straps let go, as our baby’s body lunged forward.
Ladies and Gentleman, please, for the safety of your newborns, infants or four month old babies, do not purchase any car seat because it may be cheap, pretty or easier to tote. These features are nice, but are not worth the safety concerns that may arise in a real world accident, not documented in a testing lab.
* The accompanying photo does not represent nor intend to represent a product of neither Graco nor Even flo and credit is due to photographer.