So many times in India, as we travel everyday to work, we see people driving in their cars with their kid playing on the back seat. The casual attitude to child safety is a bit worrying and the concept of car seats is still to make a home in the minds of Indians. In the US however, things are a little different.
Graco, the company which manufactures car seats for kids, has announced a recall of 3.8 million of its units from model years 2009 to 2013. The company announced its decision over concerns that children could become trapped in the car seats.
The problem is essentially with the harness buckle that latches the child into the seat and a lot of parents found it difficult to remove the child once it was buckled in. This does present a danger to the child when faced with an emergency.
Around 80 complaints with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have been filed and Graco will be under the scanner till the issue is completely resolved. 11 models of the car seat are covered in the recall and Graco is taking steps to right the wrong.
Though this recall does not affect India, it is extremely essential to understand the gravity of such a situation. While, we Indians refrain from using car seats and even buckle up the kids in the car, it is extremely important for a developing market like India to understand that precautions need to be taken and without that we are still in harm's way.
Safety is of utmost importance and car manufacturers in India too, have to take it seriously. Eversince the cars of Indian make failed miserably at the Global NCAP safety test, there hasn't been any discussion whatsoever about the future of these cars and the future of safety.
