Orbit Infant Travel System Safety Risk

The Orbit Infant System is a high-end combo that features a stroller, carrier and car seat for around $900. It’s popular with A-list celebrities, but Consumer Reports thinks you’re better off with a less expensive version, such as the Graco Stylus or Eddie Bauer Adventurer. Both of those models passed crash simulation tests, unlike the Orbit.

Consumer Reports rated the Orbit Infant System as “Don’t Buy: Safety Risk”. While the stroller is safe, the car seat detached from its base in simulated 30-mph frontal crash tests. The tests were commissioned at an outside laboratory and conducted using guidelines for speed and impact crash simulations dictated by the federal standard for child restraints.

Two failures occurred in the safety tests. One failure happened when the car seat base was connected via the Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) system found on newer cars. A second failure occurred when the car seat base was attached using the three-point (lap and shoulder) seat belt that’s standard on modern cars.

If you already own an Orbit Infant System, Consumer Reports recommends strapping the infant carrier directly, without the car seat base, into the back seat of a vehicle using a two-point (lap) belt or a three-point (lap and shoulder) belt. Although that’s a less convenient way to use the system, it passed safety tests when installed as Consumer Reports now recommends.

You can read more about the safety tests, watch a video, read Orbit’s response and get their contact information at the Consumer Reports Babies and Kids blog.

(Image via MorgueFile)