Child car seats are an important safety feature for parents who care about the safety of their children in the family automobile. Properly used, car seats are effective at preventing serious injuries to children during an automobile collision. However, it appears there may be a problem with numerous child car seats on the road today. Dorel, a major child car seat manufacturer, is currently recalling approximately 800,000 child car seats following the discovery of a faulty button used to lock and release the safety harness.

The Dorel Juvenile division, based in Canada, announced that the recall involves defective products with brand names including Eddie Bauer, Disney, Maxi-Cosi, Quinny, Cosco and Safety 1st. The defective child car seats were manufactured from May 1 of 2008 through April 30 of 2009, and the recall includes convertible seats, infant seats and booster seats.

According to a statement released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the button can fail to return to a locked position as intended. As a result, the harness can gradually loosen, increasing the chances of the harness failing and a child suffering an injury during a crash.

As part of the voluntary recall, Dorel announced that existing owners of the affected child car seats can receive a free bottle of lubricant that can be applied to the front adjuster of the harness, which will allow the button to lock as intended. Dorel also stated that the recall is a result of an "abundance of caution," and that no reports of child injuries or incidents have been received. However, it should be noted that the defective harnesses were first brought to Dorel's attention via customer complaints.

Source: AFP, "800,000 child car seats recalled in US," 2/14/2011