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In an unusually harsh and pointed report, a U.S. House subcommittee, responding to a ProPublica investigation, found widespread evidence that the nation’s largest manufacturers of car seats “endangered the lives of millions of American children and misled consumers about the safety of booster seats” in crashes that can kill or paralyze children. On Friday, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy upped the ante, formally requesting that federal highway safety regulators, as well as the Federal Trade Commission, investigate “unfair and deceptive marketing and unreasonable risks to safety” by the makers of booster seats. Separately, the subcommittee urged state attorneys general to look for violations of consumer protection laws by these companies. (Callahan, 12/11)

A congressional investigation is raising new questions about the safety of some popular children's car booster seats. The probe began after a ProPublica investigation aired on "CBS This Morning" in February which showed how some booster seats got a passing grade, despite disturbing video of crash test dummies being violently tossed around during safety testing. That video was originally obtained by ProPublica. New videos obtained by "CBS This Morning" show child-size dummies flailing violently in car booster seats during side-impact crash tests. In each case, the booster seats passed the tests. Because there are no federal standards for such side-impact crash tests, the companies decide what qualifies as passing.  (Van Cleave, 12/10)

On December 10th, The House Committee on Oversight and Reform released the findings of an investigation led by the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy which reported that parents have been potentially misled into moving their children out of five-point harness car seats and into booster seats too soon. In February of this year, the Subcommittee began an investigation following concerns from safety experts and parents. They looked at information from leading car seat manufacturers including Artsana (the seller of the Chicco brand), Baby Trend, Britax, Dorel, Evenflo, Graco and KidsEmbrace. In their review, they examined non-public videos and written briefings of side-impact crash tests, written documents about side-impact testing protocols, and internal communication regarding marketing, safety labeling and instructions. Their report states, "The Subcommittee's investigation found that manufacturers of booster seats have endangered the lives of millions of American children and misled consumers about the safety of booster seats by failing to conduct appropriate side-impact testing, deceiving consumers with false and misleading statements and material omissions about their side-impact testing protocols." (Spalding, 12/11)