Evenflo Recalls 1 Million Infant Car Seats

[Jahness]

Evenflo Recalls 1 Million Infant Car Seats
Tests Show Seats Could Separate From Base In Side Collisions

POSTED: 7:53 pm EST February 1, 2008

VANDALIA, Ohio -- Evenflo Company has issued a voluntary safety recall of 1 million Discovery infant car seats after tests showed that the seat could potentially become separated from its base in high-impact side collisions.

The recall affects Discovery Infant Car Seat Models 390, 391, 534 and 552, made between April 2005 and Jan. 29, 2008.

Evenflo and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted recent laboratory tests that brought the potential to light.

"We are parents, too, and protecting children is our core mission at Evenflo," said Rob Matteucci, CEO of Evenflo. "While our current Discovery car seat models have performed well to protect infants in actual side impact automobile collisions without any reports of serious injury or death since they were introduced, we want to take further steps to protect the safety of children who use our products."

Evenflo is providing current owners of the seat models with a free supplemental dual-hook fastener to ensure that the seat remains attached in such collisions.

The privately held company, based in suburban Dayton, Ohio, said it is also taking steps to improve future Discovery seat models. The updated seats will be available in the second quarter of 2008.

"Evenflo has taken the appropriate action today in recalling the Discovery child safety seat," said Nicole Nason, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "Testing conducted by NHTSA and Evenflo has confirmed that these seats represent a potential safety risk to children in high-impact side collisions."

Evenflo said the Discovery consistently meets or exceeds existing government safety standards. The United States has not yet adopted a side impact standard for child restraints.

Evenflo said consumers should continue to use their Discovery infant car seat and that it isn't necessary to return the seats to retailers. The car seat also remains safe if installed without the base, Evenflo said.

Other infant carrier seats produced by Evenflo, including the company's other carrier that has a base installation system, the Embrace, meets all current government safety standards and has shown to be safe in testing and in real world incidents, Evenflo said.

To order the fastener, owners should call Evenflo at 1-800-356-2229 or visit www.evenflo.com/Discovery.

Additional Resources:

* Evenflo
http://www.evenflo.com

* National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/
Previous Stories:

* January 30, 2008: Gov't To Rate Car Seats On Ease Of Use
http://www.wsbtv.com/family/15176885/detail.html

* May 10, 2007: Evenflo Recalls Car Seats After Dozens Of Injuries
http://www.wsbtv.com/family/13293615/detail.html

* February 9, 2007: Traffic Safety Officials Want To Improve Child Seats
http://www.wsbtv.com/automotive/10972328/detail.html

Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report.