Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Shame on you Safety 1st! *


I have been looking for a car seat for my daughter for a while, and my husband and we have finally decided on one. We have been doing research (thank you consumerreports.org) and going to see them in store. Yesterday we made an hour trek to go to the only Babies R US in the area just to be 100% sure.

Our first choice was the Safety 1st Convertible seat. They make you think that the car seat is doubly safe with its "air technology." It IS safe, don't get me wrong, but it is not any safer than any other seat.

Let me explain further...
Most car seats are lined with (at least some) EPS liner. EPS stands for Expanded Polystyrene. (It looks like Styrofoam.) The safety 1st doesn't have any EPS liner, but instead has their "air bags." (For lack of a better term.)

Take, for example, a bicycle helmet... It has its hard, outer shell. That is protect your head from most damage, should you fall and hit it. Think of that as the plastic part of the car seat. Then, you have the EPS liner that will protect your head further. It will take the brunt of impact from the fall and greatly reduce what kind of pressure your head will recieve. Then, since styrofoam really isn't exactly confortable, there are the pads. The pads also protect from the impact, but the work mostly falls with the EPS.

The same goes for car seats. It may not sound very high tech, but it has been proven to work time and again. As I said before, there are car seats that don't have EPS, but like helmets, the impact will lie on the car seat covers.

Safety 1st makes you think that their car seat is safer than the rest. Yes, the "air bags" will take the brunt of the impact (the whole point of EPS) but they make you feel like it is doubly safe. When we took the cover off of the seats (and yes, we did this to every seat) we were extremely disappointed. To me, I might as well of just bought a convertible car seat with EPS (there was an Evenflo there for $70 with EPS) because, in my opinion, it was equally as safe.

I am not into "scare tactics" for marketing. I don't appreciate people making parents feel like they don't care about their kids if they don't buy ______ product. You can see their website for the air seat here- http://airprotect.safety1st.com/

Also, call me stupid, but I trust Consumer Reports. I realize the Safety 1st is new, but I don't really like that they haven't tested it.

*DISCLAIMER*
I am not a doctor. I am adamant about research... Especially something that will keep my daughter safe in a car accident. I am not telling you not to buy anything, this is solely my opinion.

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