Graco recalls more than 25,000 car seats - days after a national report on child car deaths blamed poor restraints for thousands of fatalities

  • Graco recalled 25,494 My Ride 65 seats due to 'weak webbing', the firm said 
  • They found it may not properly restrain a child in the event of a car crash
  • A report this week claimed 20% of children involved in a fatal crash were restrained incorrectly. The report did not mention Graco car seats
  • If improvements were made by 10 percent, 232 child lives would be saved yearly

Car seat manufacturer Graco has recalled more than 25,000 child car seats because they may not properly restrain a child in a car crash.

Webbing in the Graco My Ride 65 car seat was found to have a strength problem, which increased the risk of injury if an accident happened. 

The news comes a day after a national report revealed that 20 percent of children involved in a fatal crash were unrestrained or inappropriately restrained at the time.

Graco has recalled more than 25,000 My Ride 65 child car seats (pictured) because they may not properly restrain children in a crash. A national report revealed that 20 percent of children involved in a fatal crash were unrestrained or inappropriately restrained at the time

Graco has recalled more than 25,000 My Ride 65 child car seats (pictured) because they may not properly restrain children in a crash. A national report revealed that 20 percent of children involved in a fatal crash were unrestrained or inappropriately restrained at the time

A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statement on the Graco recall said: 'In the event of a serious motor vehicle crash, the harness webbing restraining the child may break resulting in a child not being properly restrained.'

Graco traced the problem to a single batch of webbing and the seats were made on July 22, 2014.

The company is recalling 25,494 My Ride 65 seats with the model numbers 1871689, 1908152, 1813074, 1872691, 1853478, 1877535, 1813015, and 1794334.

The news comes on the heels of a report on child car deaths by researchers at the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women's Hospital and UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

The team conducted the study on child fatalities in car crashes across the United States. The report did not mention Graco car seats.

They claim if Americans improve their habits of properly restraining a child by 10 percent, it will prevent 232 child deaths a year.

WHY NEWBORNS SHOULDN'T BE IN CAR SEAT FOR MORE THAN 30 MINUTES

Scientists are advising that parents should not use car seats for very young babies for more than 30 minutes – as they could be at risk of suffocating.

Manufacturers advise that babies should not be left in the seats for more than two hours.

Fitting a car seat for the first trip home is a rite of passage for many new mums and dads – as Prince William showed when he picked up baby George and drove himself and Kate away in a Range Rover.

But doctors warn that very young babies whose neck muscles are not strong enough to stop their heads flopping forward could stop breathing.

This increases the risk they will be unable to breathe – with potentially fatal results. 

Advertisement

When used correctly, car seats can reduce the risk of infant death and injury by 71 percent. 

In the study from 2010-2014, more than half of all children who died in a car crash lived in the South. 

Among the states with the highest rates of death included West Virginia, Montana, Alabama, Wyoming and Mississippi. 

In Mississippi, 38 percent of children who died in accidents weren't restrained adequately or at restrained at all.  

The states with the lowest rates of death were in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Washington and Rhode Island. 

The study concluded that the mortality rate differed by state and the percentage of children who were unrestrained or inappropriately restrained was a leading predictor of mortality.

Faisal Qureshi, senior author of the study and associate professor of surgery at UT, said: 'The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued clear guidelines regarding child restraints and other factors in order to save children's lives in the event of motor vehicle crashes, and many states have implemented them in part, but no state has implemented them fully.' 

In 2015, an alarming study found that 95 percent of parents didn't know how to use a car seat, effectively endangering their child.  

The majority of these parents - 91 percent - are deemed to be 'serious errors', researchers at Oregon Health and Science University revealed.

Researchers found that there were a number of factors that contributed to a higher rate of car seat misuse. 

Among those factors were lower socioeconomic status, lower educational attainment and non-English primary language.  

No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.