Orbit infant system | ABC30 Fresno | abc30.com

kfsn

By ABC30

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Fresno, CA The company touts that celebrities use the stroller/car seat combo, which costs a whopping 900 dollars!

But as Action News Consumer Reporter Christine Park shows us, there's a potential safety risk with the car seat.

Like other "travel systems," the Orbit infant system is a child seat that can either be snapped into its stroller or latched into its car-seat base. But in consumer reports' tests at a specialized lab, two out of six seats failed simulated crashes.

Jennifer Stockburger, Consumer Reports said: "In one case when the seat was installed with latch and it tested to the federal standard, it detached from its base. In the second case it did so when attached with the lap and shoulder belt. Though there have been no reported injuries, we do feel that this poses a safety risk."

Consumer Reports contacted the manufacturer, Orbit baby. The company insists its seat is safe and said: "We took immediate action and scheduled further extensive testing at the same certified test lab. All of the car seats subjected to these tests passed." still, consumer reports says don't buy the orbit infant system. And if you own it, use it without the base.

Jennifer Stockburger, Consumer Reports said: "In this case you'll strap it directly into your car using the seatbelts. And in that configuration it passed our crash tests."

But Consumer Reports said you don't need to spend 900 dollars for a travel system. The 245-dollar Graco Stylus travel system passed all of Consumer Reports' tests and was named a Consumer Reports best buy.