A series of misjudgments and a key misunderstanding between Consumer Reports and an outside laboratory led to the publication of erroneous crash-test data in our recent report on infant car seats, an expert investigation and interviews with those involved has revealed.
The report, in the February 2007 issue of Consumer Reports, was made public on Jan. 4 but was withdrawn--along with its test results--just 14 days later when evidence first surfaced that it was flawed.
The report attracted wide public attention because it said 10 of the 12 seats tested provided poor protection. Some seats twisted on their bases or flew apart. We urged recall of two models that got our lowest rating of Not Acceptable.
The withdrawal, which also generated broad publicity, shook the confidence of the public and safety experts in a 71-year-old institution that had enjoyed a largely unblemished record of product testing. "Mistakes are rare at Consumers Union but this one went right to the heart of what we do," says Jim Guest, president of the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. "We had to figure out exactly what went wrong."
Read Article