An urgent recall has been issued for 180K child car seats in the United States. The safety of the passengers in a car has been paramount since the car has been invented. Once the family car became the car of choice for the majority of the world’s consumers, there have been a range of additional safety car seats and little extra’s one could buy for your car. Most serve a specific purpose, like the child car seat for instance. Meant to keep the child secure in the event of a collision, they have saved countless lives. This new recall however, could have a very negative effect on the company’s bottomline.
What is the history of the child car seat and how many recalls have there been?
The child car seat goes all the way back to the 1930’s. Originally the purpose was to elevate the child so they could see out the window of the car. In the 60’s the shift to safety began. By the 70’s the world was introducing new regulations for safety in cars. The child car seat evolved overtime and in the 70’s the first child car seat with seatbelts was sold to the public.
In the automotive market, recalls are a regular occurance. However, when the recall affects the safety of the child in a car, the situation becomes significantly more serious. The child car seat sector is worth a crazy amount of money. In 2018 the sector was worth $910 million and this year its due to reach more than a $1 Billion. That is a seriously large annual turnover.
The largest recall of child car seats was in 2014 when the the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that it opened an investigation into the timeliness of Graco Children’s Products, Inc.’s (Graco) reporting of a safety defect in child seats. The recall would eventually affect over six million defective car seats.
What are the details for this latest child car seat recall?
The newest child car seat recall is for the CC321 Safety 1st Grow and Go Sprint All-in-One car seat made by the Dorel Juvenile Group, Inc. From the early 60’s the Dorel Juvenile group have specialized in high-quality, innovative, and safe products for children and babies. Being a subdivision of Dorel Industries meant that they had great manufacturing abilities and became a global leader in the sector.
The company is experienced some rise in stocks for the fourth quarter of last year, but overall they had a net loss in 2024. This voluntary recall has not been a great start to the year for them. The problem seems to stem around a small piece of foam on the car seats headrest that can come loose. Which, the government fears, poses a choking hazard for the child.
The federal authority issued a recall notice, NHTSA Campaign Number 25C-006 has been released by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall has the company scrambling to issue a notice to their affected customers before anything can happen. The American federal government is no stranger to making changes or holding companies accountable.
What will the long term affect be on the automotive industry?
The word that the automotive sector is focused on is safety. Safety is a major concern, Not just for the people inside the car, but also safety for the planet. The world is fast approaching an alternative fuel future. If more recalls like this one happen, one might ask the question as to why the car manufacturers of the world do not make their own child seats? Surely a child car seat designed by a company specifically for a car will go through significantly more testing and ultimately be a better fit for the car in question?
