Dear Parent,
A recent Consumer Reports article showed that the Orbit Baby Infant Car Seat failed one of their safety tests. These results were very surprising to us. Because we make products for children, nothing is more important to us than the safety and well being of children.
Orbit Baby has run extensive and regular compliance testing in the same independent lab that Consumer Reports uses, and every test has passed. When we were notified about Consumer Reports’ results, we immediately conducted more testing -- simulating their unique test conditions – and every one of those tests also passed. We also receive reports of real-life accidents from Orbit Baby parents, and we have never had a report of a separation or injury with an Orbit Baby car seat.
We are very concerned that Consumer Reports did not follow our product instructions when they conducted their testing. Any deviation from a safety product's proper usage instructions can result in unpredictable testing conditions, and we believe this is reflected in Consumer Reports' inconsistent results. Our greatest concerns are that they used a harness position that was too high for the size of the dummy, and that they did not turn the Base’s knob to engage the StrongArm™ self-tightening mechanism. It is extremely important to follow all instructions with safety products like car seats, both in testing and in the real world. Consumer Reports strongly recommends that all instructions be followed for safe car seat use, and we encourage you to consult your product manual, watch our installation videos, or read our FAQs.
We have pro-actively referred this matter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and will work with them on any further recommendations they may have.
If you have any questions, we encourage you to contact us directly at 1-877-672-2229, or email us at support@orbitbaby.com.
Best, Joseph, Bryan, and The Orbit Team
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