Background
A three-year-old child sustained severe injuries in a motor vehicle crash while riding in a forward-facing car seat. The parents alleged the manufacturer failed to adequately inform caregivers about when to transition their child from rear-facing to forward-facing, and later to a booster seat. The parents claimed clearer guidance and instructions from the car seat manufacturer would have helped prevent the premature move to the next restraint stage.
Our Approach
The Rimkus Child and Adolescent Safety team applied developmental psychology and human factors expertise to evaluate how caregivers make decisions about car seat transitions. We considered the following items during our analysis:
- Attention to instructions and on-product labels for height, weight, and age limits
- Availability of other guidance resources for caregivers to access from medical providers, safety organizations, peer networks, and more
- How caregiver perceptions of child comfort, child preference, and convenience may influence decisions in the real world
- National usage surveys and crash data to identify common transition ages and evaluate the effectiveness of public messaging strategies
- The car seat’s warnings, instructions, and labels in the context of regulations and guidelines (e.g., FMVSS 213, NHTSA), and the caregiver decision-making process
Value Delivered
Our Human Factors experts provided an analysis overview to the client which included:
- An understanding of how real-world caregivers interpret and act upon safety messaging
- Evidence-based context demonstrating that caregiver decision-making often involves multiple influences beyond the manufacturer’s control
As a result of our findings, we helped clarify the role of manufacturer communication in caregiver decision-making and supported the development of defensible expert opinions regarding product labeling, risk communication, and compliance with safety standards.