Recaro Is Recalling 5,444 Child Seats for Safety Reasons

Just as we have assumed from the very beginning, the investigation conducted by The Chicago Tribune showing that car seats are not safe enough for your children as they detach from their base during a crash, led to the first recalls.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today announced that Recaro, which manufactures premium mobile seating, OEM, aftermarket, commercial vehicle, motorsports and child seats, reported it was recalling 5,444 Signo Child Restraint Assemblies made in the February-September 2008 period. In case it wasn't obvious already, the reason for such a massive recall is exactly the risk that their car seats might detach from the base during an accident.

According the NHTSA report, "the central front adjuster may slip within the metal adjuster (a lock) that controls tightness of the harness and thus, it may prevent the harness from being properly tightened."

In case a vehicle crash happened, the child would not be properly secured in their child restraint system and may sustain injury.

In an attempt to avoid future tragedies, Recaro is going to notify owners and replace child restraint systems which are defective. More importantly, owners won't have to pay for the repairs.

The recall will start somewhere in March 2009. For other details, owners can call 1-888-473-2290, free of charge. In addition, parents can also contact NHTSA's vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) or visit their official web site.

Recaro's decision to proceed to massive recalls proves that the federal tests showing  that babies are not safe in car seats were not wrong as some car-seat manufacturers claimed. Now that the truth has been revealed to the public, we expect that other car-seat makers will make the same decision.