Evenflo Agrees To Recall 202,000 Rear-Facing Infant Car Seats Over Tricky Buckle

Earlier this year, both Graco and Evenflo recalled almost six million car seats, all told, due to a safety buckle that regulators said could be tricky to open in the case of an emergency, and hamper attempts to get kids out of the car safely. And now, despite pushing back against a recall for additional rear-facing infant seats that use the same buckle, but that the companies argued don’t pose the same risk, Evenflo says it’s agreed to recall 202,000 more car seats.

The latest spate of recalls is for the Embrace 35, which was “manufactured at various times from December 2011 through May 2014,” Evenflo says in a report (PDF) posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.

The same buckle made by AmSafe Commercial Products was at the heart of this year’s earlier recalls for other models of Graco and Evenflo seats, after complaints that the daily wear and tear of mess kids gumming up the works made it difficult or impossible to get a child out in an emergency.

But both companies had resisted issuing recalls for rear-facing seats, reports the New York Times, saying that the part of the seat that holds the child could be detached from the base and taken out of the car that way, thus there was no “unreasonable risk” to children’s safety, reports the New York Times.

It seems Evenflo has changed its tune after the NHTSA continued to demand a recall of the rear-facing seats, saying it “acquiesced” to regulators on Oct. 14.

“Child seats serve one purpose: to keep our children safe from harm during a crash and its aftermath,” said Anthony Foxx, secretary of the Department of Transportation. “If the seat is defective, we will force a recall as we have done today.”

Affected model numbers include: 30711365, 31511040,31511323, 31511400, 3151198, 3151953, 31521138, 46811205, 46811237, 48111200, 48111215, 48111215A,48111218, 48111234, 48111235, 48111235A, 48111462, 48411391, 48411391D, 48411392, 48411504, 48411504D, 52911307A,52921040, 55311138, 55311238 and 55311292.

Evenflo will notify registered owners and provide a remedy kit, including a replacement buckle and instructions for easy consumer removal of the AmSafe buckle and installation of the newly-designed replacement buckle. Owners may contact Evenflo’s toll-free number at 1-800-490-7591.

Evenflo Recalls 202,000 Child Safety Seats [New York Times]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist