![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() "Unquestionably, our company records on Big Kid alone are anecdotal proof of the improved level of safety," Blankenship said. Evenflo's Big Kid has always complied with federal regulations, she wrote, and rules written by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration allow sale of boosters for children who weigh as little as 30 pounds.īlankenship said Evenflo has records of hundreds of accidents in which children seated in Big Kid boosters were unscathed or received only minor injuries "unrelated to the car seat." She said some parents credited the Big Kid with helping to save their children's lives. In a response to detailed written questions about this story, Evenflo General Counsel Amy Blankenship wrote that her company has been a pioneer in side-impact testing of boosters and other child car seats, and that it provides safe, effective and affordable products, including the Big Kid. Graco is among them, though some Graco TurboBoosters sold on the websites of Walmart, Amazon and Target now include this statement: "To continue to meet industry standards, we have increased the weight minimum from 30 to 40 lb." But at least six other companies in addition to Evenflo continue to market boosters for American children who weigh as little as 30 pounds. Unlike Evenflo, Dorel told ProPublica it stopped selling boosters for children under 40 pounds in 2016. A Graco spokeswoman said the company is "committed to child safety." One of Evenflo's biggest competitors stopped selling booster seats for children under 40 pounds, but Evenflo refused When asked by ProPublica, Dorel and Graco declined to provide test videos or even the basic details of how their side-impact tests are performed. Graco and Dorel also advertise seats that they say provide side-impact protection. The families alleged the companies marketed boosters for kids too young or too small to be protected. ProPublica obtained multiple years of Evenflo's side-impact test videos, thousands of pages of sworn depositions of company employees and marketing materials that laid out the business objectives for the Big Kid that, until now, had mostly been shielded by secrecy orders in court cases around the country.Įvenflo's chief competitors, Graco and Dorel, have also faced lawsuits brought by the families of children injured or killed in accidents, though those suits involved head-on collisions. Indeed, the company's test bar was so low, the only way to fail was if the child-sized dummy ended up on the floor or the booster itself broke into pieces. Yet Evenflo gave its seats passing grades. Evenflo's top booster seat engineer would later admit in a deposition if real children moved that way, they could suffer catastrophic head, neck and spinal injuries - or die. The company's tests show that when child-sized crash dummies seated in Big Kid boosters were subjected to the forces of a T-bone collision, they were thrown far out of their shoulder belts. ![]() One concerned executive suggested changing weight requirements to protect young passengers, but his suggestion was dismissed. While less common than head-on crashes, side impacts are more likely to result in serious injuries in part because there's only a door separating the passenger from the intruding vehicle. On its website, Evenflo told parents those tests were rigorous, simulating realistic side-impact crashes, which were responsible for more than a quarter of deaths of children under 15 killed in vehicle collisions in 2018. Not only did it sell its seats for children under 40 pounds, but Evenflo touted its Big Kid boosters as "SIDE IMPACT TESTED" without revealing that its own tests showed a child seated in its booster could be in grave danger in such a crash. During side-impact crash tests, Evenflo found that children could get killed in its Big Kid booster seats was emblematic of how the company - locked in a marketing battle with its biggest competitor - has repeatedly made decisions that resulted in putting children at risk. "Why are we even talking about this?" he wrote in an email, adding, "I have looked at 40 lbs for the US numerous times and will not approve this."Įvenflo's decision to keep the weight recommendation for its Big Kid booster low in the U.S. The same executive, who had been promoted to vice president of marketing and product development, expressed his exasperation. Later that year, the subject came up again. It often indicates a user profile.Ī marketing executive "vetoed" Dahle's safety recommendation, an internal Evenflo record shows. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. ![]()
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