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Hot toys for 2010 – Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3 and other movie tie-ins At Toy Fair this year, we had no choice but to learn what child-oriented movies were debuting in 2010, because the showrooms overflowed with tie-in products. (Learn more about Toy Fair and hot outdoor toys .) Here are just a few items you may see in stores or advertised this year: For kids excited about Iron Man 2 , Hasbro will introduce various Iron Man 2-themed products, but that one that caught our eye …
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Do Baby Wordsworth DVDs help your baby talk? Although quite chatty now, our daughter wasn't an early talker. I clearly remember the worry I felt when her doctor expressed mild concern over her lack of words. As a parent, it's hard not to obsess over such developmental milestones, and you do what you can to help your child learn and grow. One tool many parents turn to are educational DVDs for babies and toddlers, some of which focus on language. However, a new study suggests that such tools do not actually help young children learn new words or improve their overall language skills. The study focused on the Baby Wordsworth DVD, which is part of the Baby Einstein series. Ninety-six children aged 12 months to 24 months participated in the study, and half watched the DVD regularly for six weeks. Parents were told to use the DVD as they would any other type of children's media, allowing them to decide whether they would watch the DVD with their child. Every couple of weeks, the researchers tested both groups' knowledge of the 30 words featured in the DVD by showing the children pairs of pictures and asking them to point to the one showing the word. The parents were also interviewed about their child's use and understanding of these words. At the end of the study, there were no differences between the groups in overall language skills, or in the numbers of words understood, words said, or pictures identified. Learn more in the
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Daily babies & kids deals For some time now, our sister site, The Consumerist , has been compiling daily reports of Web deals on popular (and some more obscure) products. The Consumerist receives nothing in exchange for featuring these deals; the posts are intended to be purely informational. In the same vein, the Consumer Reports Baby & child blog will begin reposting The Consumerist's regular deals of child-related products like toys . By reposting these,
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Why Consumer Reports Still Says Don’t Buy the Orbit Infant Car Seat Last week we reported that Consumer Reports stands behind our earlier judgment that the Orbit Infant Car Seat poses a safety risk and warrants a Don’t Buy Rating, even though government tests now show the seat meets federal safety standards. The manufacturer and a few others have questioned our position, arguing that we should change our rating on the seat. Here’s a short answer that explains why we won’t – and a series of longer answers that should provide plenty of detail for those who are interested. The short answer is simple: Consumer Reports has tested child car seats since 1972, and we take any failures seriously. In the past year alone, we’ve tested 31 different child and infant car seats. Of those, the Orbit Infant Car Seat was the only one that failed our tests. Two out of six Orbit seats detached from their bases in our simulated 30 mph frontal crash tests. We have examined our methodology in detail and believe our tests were properly conducted. We’re concerned about the seat’s safety, and do not feel comfortable recommending it to parents because – when it comes to child safety – we believe no failure is acceptable. It’s not the first time that Consumer Reports’ view on safety has differed from that of a manufacturer or the government. These differences aren’t surprising given our respective roles in the marketplace. Consumer Reports does not certify that products meet federal safety requirements—that’s the manufacturer’s responsibility. Nor do we conduct compliance testing to confirm that products are legally fit for sale—that’s for the government to do. Consumer Reports independently compares how well products perform from a consumer perspective. And when we find a product that we believe poses a hazard, we advise you not to buy it. For those who want to know more about how our tests were conducted, why we disagree with the manufacturer’s objections about our methodology, and why we are sticking with our Don’t Buy Rating, see the detailed questions and answers below. Where did CR get the Orbit Infant Car Seats for its tests? How were the seats tested? How did the seats perform? What does a CR “Don’t Buy” Rating mean? What has the manufacturer said? How did CR handle the seat installation? What has NHTSA said about CR’s installation? What have other experts said about CR’s tests? Why has CR decided not to run additional tests? What are our testers’ qualifications? What’s CR’s experience testing car seats? How did these tests differ from our 2007 car seat tests? How did the seat perform in NHTSA’s tests? What does it mean to “pass” the government test? Are there safe alternatives to this seat? What should I do if I own the seat? Are other Orbit Baby products safe? Where did CR get the Orbit Infant Car Seats for its tests? All of the Orbit Infant Car Seats used in our tests were bought anonymously by Consumer Reports at retail. Consistent with our policy, we do not rate samples provided by manufacturers. We pay for them the same way you do. Return to Top How were the seats tested? Orbit Infant Car Seats were tested at an outside lab that specializes in car seat testing. The same lab is used by the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHTSA) for car seat testing, and was used in the government’s recent tests of the Orbit Infant Car Seats. It was also used by Orbit Baby for the manufacturer’s seat tests. Simulated crash tests of the rear-facing infant seats were closely supervised by our program manager of vehicle and child safety Jennifer Stockburger and automotive safety engineer Michelle Tsai, both of whom are engineers and certified Child Passenger Safety (CPS) technicians. Tests were overseen by the manager at the outside lab, who is also CPS certified, and conducted by other trained lab technicians. These are the same tests that Consumer Reports routinely performs when evaluating car seats. We have a 37-year history of testing car seats and in the last year tested 31 seat models, including the Orbit seat (15 infant and 16 convertible car seats). (See What’s CR’s experience testing car seats? ) We conducted the tests using the manufacturer’s instructions on seat installation. And we were guided by specific standards for speed and impact crash simulations in the federal standard for child restraints (the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard—FMVSS 213). Our crash tests simulated a head-on 30-mph crash and used a 22-pound CRABI dummy, which represents a 12-month-old child. Three Orbit seats were tested using the Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) system to install the base. We also installed two seats using a 3-point (lap-and-shoulder) seat belt. And finally one seat was tested with just a lap belt. Return to Top How did the seats perform? We saw failures with the Orbit Infant Car Seats in two out of six tests: Once when the car seat base was attached using the Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) system, and again in one of the instances when the base was installed with the 3-point (lap-and-shoulder) seat belt. We tested two seats as part of our normal test procedure. When one seat detached from its base, we purchased another four seats to see if the failure was reproducible – and we did see a second failure in one of the four seats. The point of failure with the Orbit seat occurred when the carrier detached from its seat base in two test runs. Diagram of the Orbit Infant Car Seat shows point of failure between the seat and the base In all six of our simulated crashes, the Orbit seat base remained attached to the sled bench. (The sled bench is used in simulated crash tests as a requirement to meet government standards, and substitutes for a vehicle seat.) Time-lapse photos of the Orbit Infant Car Seat shot during one of CR’s two failed tests show the seat separating from its base The four other Orbit seats did not detach from their bases. And neither did two samples from each of the other models tested in this batch of infant travel systems, the Graco Stylus and the Eddie Bauer Adventurer. Based on those two failures, Consumer Reports rated the Orbit Infant System Don’t Buy: Safety Risk. Return to Top What does a CR “Don’t Buy” Rating mean? Consumer Reports’ tests are designed to help parents to make decisions about which car seats to buy. We test seats for crash protection, guided by minimum standards for speed and crash dynamics used in government tests. We also compare car seats in terms of how well they perform in areas such as “ease of use” and “fit to vehicle.” We give car seats an overall Rating that tells you which seats may be a good value for your family. Don’t Buy: Safety Risk is our strongest negative recommendation, and indicates our opinion that there is a serious safety risk. In this case, it means we don’t recommend the Orbit Infant Car Seat. Our view is that when it comes to safety, no test failure is acceptable—and that’s especially so where child safety is concerned. Of the 15 infant seat models we have tested this year using in each case the same minimum standard, simulated frontal impact tests, and conducted in the same specialized lab, the Orbit Infant Car Seat was the only one of the samples we bought and tested that detached from its base. Another reason the failures raise such serious concerns for us is that the tests run by Consumer Reports followed minimum standards for safety. We conducted simulated frontal crash tests at 30 mph, the speed required by government standards. But other safety tests go beyond those parameters. For example, when the government evaluates the crashworthiness of vehicles and assesses the effects of frontal impacts on adult passengers as part of the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), it conducts crash tests at 35 mph. Though child seats are not normally included in NCAP car evaluations, when they have been, some child restraint recalls have been initiated based on seat failures in these tests even when those same seats met conditions of the minimum FMVSS 213 standard. Consumer Reports believes that seats with a sufficient safety margin should consistently pass tests run at the minimum standard for speed, and also perform well in tests conducted at slightly higher speeds seen in some real-world crashes. Note that Consumer Reports’ Don’t Buy Rating doesn’t necessarily mean that a seat has failed to comply with government safety standards. The manufacturer is responsible for testing to ensure its seats meet the government standards. And only the government can set those standards and confirm that a particular seat passes or fails. (See How did the seat perform in NHTSA’s tests? and What does it mean to “pass” the government test? ) Return to Top What has the manufacturer said? We notified Orbit Baby, the manufacturer based in Newark, Calif., of our findings before we published the results and invited the company to review our test procedures and findings at our Yonkers headquarters. Following that review, Orbit Baby’s chief executive officer, Joseph Hei, said in an e-mailed statement: “Orbit Baby has never received any report of a child being injured while in an Orbit baby seat. We do not believe the test results obtained by Consumers Union are indicative of the safety of our Infant Car seats. Our car seats are used by children, including our own, and safety is our top priority. We strongly believe in the quality of our product.” The company said that it had run extensive and regular compliance testing in the past in the same independent lab used by Consumer Reports, and that every seat had passed. It also said that upon being notified of our test results, it had conducted more tests at the same lab to see if they could replicate our findings, and found no failures. Return to Top How did CR handle the seat installation? Orbit Baby has raised concerns about the way seats were installed in our tests, and suggested this may have led to our observed seat failures. We respectfully disagree with the manufacturer’s suggestion that our tests were not properly conducted. Click to view the base label The manufacturer raised two specific concerns about our testing: The first has to do with the fact that we did not use the patented StrongArm mechanism when installing the base. The Orbit instructions say to turn the StrongArm knob to amplify your strength when tightening the seat belts that secure the base, and note that the belt has reached “the optimal tightness setting” when the seat base does not move more than one inch in any direction. The installation directions on the seat base direct as follows: “If the base moves more than 1 inch, turn the StrongArm clockwise or reinstall the Base according to the instruction manual.” (See left.) In each of our tests, lab personnel checked to see that the base met the 1-inch movement criteria and was at “optimal” tightness without needing to use the StrongArm.FMVSS 213 also dictates a required tension range for the belts used to attach the seat base to the bench (12 to 15 lbs). Lab personnel installed the Orbit bases to meet that requirement as well, again without needing to use the StrongArm. Some Orbit Infant System owners have commented on our blogs and said that they don’t understand how we installed the base securely without using the StrongArm feature. 1) Sled bench used for our Orbit Baby tests. 2) A back-view of the sled bench seats shows the belts used to secure the base While it may be helpful or necessary to use the StrongArm to ensure that the base can move no more than one inch in any direction when the seat is installed in a car, our lab tests are conducted using the federally mandated sled bench. The bench enables easier access to the belts (including from behind the seat) and is softer and flatter than many vehicle seats. These design features often make it easier to install child seats on the sled bench than in a real car. We confirmed that our installation met the optimal installation outlined in the Orbit manual and the tension requirements of the federal standard. A photo from one of our test installation shows the top harness slot position used by CR. Testers judged it appropriate to use the top harness slot with a clothed 12-month CRABI dummy The manufacturer also said our testers had used the wrong position for the harness strap that holds the infant in the carrier. Specifically, Orbit claims that we should have used the middle harness slot position. The harness was positioned in the top slots for all of our six tests. The Orbit instruction manual and instructions for all rear facing seats state that the straps should be positioned “even with or just below” the child’s shoulders. The dummy required by the FMVSS 213 for rear facing child seats is a clothed 12-Month CRABI dummy. Test lab personnel and our CPS technicians judged that it was appropriate to use the highest of the three strap positions to meet the Orbit guidelines for this CRABI dummy. Based on the details outlined above, again we respectfully disagree with the manufacturer’s claims that we didn’t follow the instructions. We believe that installing the seat as described above should not cause the seat to fail a minimum standard test—and if it does, we think there’s a problem with the seat. Car-seat installation in the real world is not an exact science. Installation can vary from family to family, and car to car. And the top three installation issues for parents include choosing the correct harness position and tension and getting sufficient vehicle-belt tension. (See NHTSA’s research on this issue .) Parents have a right to expect that seats will be engineered with enough margin of safety to accommodate some variations in installation. If a seat’s ability to stay attached to its base depends upon parents using a middle slot instead of the higher slot for a child the size and weight of the 12 month CRABI dummy—when trained CPS technicians and lab personnel all used their best judgment to select the higher slot—we believe that seat doesn’t meet the standards it should to protect a child. Return to Top What has NHTSA said about CR’s installation? Consumer Reports and Orbit Baby also shared their test results with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the federal agency that regulates car seat safety. The agency recently ran its own tests on the seat (See How did the Orbit Infant Car Seat perform in NHTSA’s tests? ). In a later update on their Web site, Orbit Baby reported that a letter to Consumers Union from NHTSA “…Confirmed that the magazine’s original tests of the Infant Car Seat deviated from their official government’s test procedures and were NOT configured correctly according to FMVSS 213”. Orbit suggested this “improper test set up” contributed to what it called our “inconsistent results.” We believe this characterization of NHTSA’s comments about our tests is misleading and could be confusing for consumers. In NHTSA’s report on the research tests (not their letter to Consumers Union) the agency describes two ways in which our tests deviated from FMVSS 213. First it notes that for some of our tests we installed the Orbit Infant Car Seats using a 3 point (lap-and-shoulder) seat belt. Consumer Reports routinely performs crash tests using the 3-point belt configuration (in addition to the LATCH system and two-point lap belt required by FMVSS 213) because this belt system is featured on many newer cars. Second, NHTSA notes we did not use the StrongArm as instructed in the Orbit manual. As we’ve explained, our testers were able to achieve the required belt tension specified by the owner’s manual and the FMVSS standards without needing to use the StrongArm. While it notes differences in protocol, NHTSA does not say that these deviations from their standards invalidate Consumer Reports’ tests or our results. In addition to regulating the protocol for performing FMVSS 213 tests, the government has recommended practices for contract laboratories such as the one used by Consumer Reports. For rear facing infant seats the agency recommends that the harness be placed through the slot at or below the level of the dummy’s shoulder.
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Child safety news: Tylenol recall, furniture tipover, more Tylenol recalls infants' and children's liquid medications. The maker of Tylenol is recalling 21 types of infants' and children's liquid Tylenol , because it may be contaminated with bacteria, including Tylenol Suspension, Tylenol Cold, Tylenol Plus Cough, Tylenol Plus Flu and Tylenol Plus Cold/Allergy in cherry, grape, strawberry and bubble gum flavors. The affected products were manufactured between April and June 2008. Learn more in the full Safety blog post . FDA bans flavored cigarettes. As part of the national effort to reduce smoking in America, the Food and Drug Administration announced a ban on cigarettes that taste like fruit, candy or clove . Talk about a gateway drug–who do you think is attracted to cigarettes that taste like candy? Check out the FDA advisory to parents on the risks associated with flavored tobacco products, and to the rest of this Safety blog post for more information. Dangers of furniture tip-overs highlighted by new CPSC outreach. The Consumer Product Safety Commission recently joined the blogosphere and the Twitter universe, opened a channel on YouTube and created a photo stream on Flickr. In
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Don’t Buy: Safety Risk – Orbit™ Infant System Consumer Reports has identified a possible safety risk in a high-end infant “travel system” that combines features of an infant carrier, a stroller, and a car seat. The product, the Orbit™ Infant System, was rated “Don’t Buy: Safety Risk” after the infant carrier detached from its car seat base in two of six simulated 30-mph frontal crash tests that Consumer Reports commissioned at an outside laboratory. We conducted the tests using the guidelines for speed and impact crash simulations dictated by the federal standard for child restraints. Although the Orbit system, which retails for $900, is not among the overall leaders in terms of sales, it has carved out a niche in the market thanks in part to its popularity with A-list celebrities, some of whom offer testimonials on its Web site. The system consists of an infant carrier that can be snapped into either a car seat base, for use in a vehicle, or a stroller base, for use when on foot. Thus, it offers convenience for parents who want to be able to lift their child out of a stroller into a car, or vice versa, with a minimum of hassle. The Orbit was the only travel system in our tests to show any failures. The other two travel systems we tested, the Graco Stylus and Eddie Bauer Adventurer, stayed attached to their bases during the crash simulations. Of the two failures in Consumer Reports’ tests, one occurred when the car seat base was attached using the Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) system that is featured on newer cars. The other failure occurred when the base was installed with the three-point (lap and shoulder) seat belt that is standard on modern cars. Six Orbit seats bought from retail merchants were tested. The other four passed our tests, and all findings were reviewed by an outside child-safety expert who has experience in child-restraint crash testing. Consumer Reports shared its test results with Orbit Baby, and the company ran their own tests at the same laboratory and found no failures. In a statement to Consumer Reports, Joseph Hei, chief executive officer of the Newark, Calif.-based company, says Orbit Baby has never received any report of a child being injured while in an Orbit baby seat. “We do not believe the test results obtained by Consumers Union are indicative of the safety of our Infant Car seats,” Hei wrote in an e-mailed statement. “Our car seats are used by children, including our own, and safety is our top priority. We strongly believe in the quality of our product.” Consumer Reports says it decided to rate the seat “Don’t Buy: Safety Risk” so that parents, safety experts and regulators would be aware of the results and of the potential for injury if an Orbit seat were to fail in a real crash, as it did in our laboratory simulations. “We think any failures are a matter of concern,” said Jennifer Stockburger, program manager of vehicle and child safety for Consumer Reports. “We rarely see failures in these tests, which we routinely perform on child seats.” Consumer Reports advises that anyone who already owns an Orbit Infant System should strap the infant carrier directly, without the car seat base, into the back seat of a vehicle. Installed this way, the infant carrier passed our tests when it was secured using either a two-point (lap) belt or a three-point (lap and shoulder) belt. Obviously this makes the product somewhat less convenient to use. But used as a stroller, separate tests have showed the Orbit system to be perfectly safe. Consumer Reports has also shared its findings with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which regulates child car restraints, and requested that the agency conduct their own investigation. Orbit Baby’s Hei adds that his company “will work cooperatively with NHTSA on further recommendations they may have.” Hei says anyone with questions may call Orbit Baby at 877-672-2229 or send e-mail to support@orbitbaby.com . When installing a car seat, if you’re having trouble getting it snugly in place, or if you want to check that you’ve done it correctly, you can go to a car seat installation checkpoint. To find the one nearest to you, go NHTSA’s Child Seat Safety Inspection Station Locator .
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As your baby grows and begins to progress through stages of development, one of the hardest tasks as a parent and perhaps source of costliest mistakes is deciding which activity centers and playsets to purchase for your child.
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Bugaboo Bee stroller recall Bugaboo has recalled 22,500 of its Bugaboo Bee strollers because brakes on one or both sides can fail, causing the stroller to unexpectedly roll away on an incline. The company has received 121 reports of the stroller’s brakes failing but no injuries have been reported, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Bugaboo reports that in 116 cases the brakes failed on one side and in five cases the brakes failed on both sides. The strollers have the item code 580210 on a label on the back of the seat and item code 50100 on a label on the plastic support under the seat. The strollers were featured in blue, dark khaki, pink, red, yellow, and black. “bugaboo® bee” is printed on the left side of the seat. They were sold at juvenile product retailers nationwide and online from August 2007 through April 2009 for $530. The Bugaboo Bee was in our most recent report on strollers . Read the rest of this post on our Safety blog . Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences
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New standard for cribs may make them safer