Children's car seat sends dummy somersaulting

Members of the public are being urged to check their children’s car seats after one particular model failed to restrain a child dummy during a crash test.

The seat in question is the Joie i-Travvel, a $600 child seat that launched the small crash dummy out of the seat on impact in forward-facing mode during a routine crash test by the Child Restraint Evaluation Program (CREP).

It’s said to be the first catastrophic child seat failure in the crash test’s 28-year history  and comes after the seat has been on sale in Australia for over 12 months.

An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) recall states that the top tether strap may release under excessive load and “if the top tether strap releases in a crash, an infant may be injured”.

The NRMA was forced to issue a warning to the ACCC and Standards Australia after the crash test result, with NRMA road safety expert Dimitra Vlahomitros saying a child restraint that doesn’t restrain a dummy just doesn’t cut it.

“These tests demonstrate once again that not all car seats are created equal and the manufacturer needs to lift its game,” she said.

The Joie seat was tested in both seatbelt and ISOFIX mode, with the failure occurring during the latter.

Under Australian regulations, seats using the ISOFIX system also require a top tether anchorage point by law.

In a statement, Joie Baby, the car seat manufacturer, said that it was deeply troubled by the CREP results.

"The safety and well-being of our customers and their children is paramount to Joie Baby, and we are thoroughly reviewing the results as a matter of utmost urgency to understand the results fully and what further action may be taken," the manufacturer said.

"To the best of our knowledge, the i-Travvel Signature Convertible Safety Seat has never had any safety issues in the market since its release, however, we also understand the CREP test results may be unsettling for some customers who purchased an i-Travvel car seat after February 2019."

Joie Baby said it was working with the the ACCC to determine what further actions may be taken.