Today I am going to talk about the safety of grand caravan integrated child seats. Yes they are convenient to have. You no longer have to worry about forgetting to get the child seat out of one parent's car to put into the other. Dodge claims they are the top of the line, but how safe are the really?
What are integrated child seats?
Grand caravan integrated child seats are built into the back seats of many Dodge grand caravans. The child seats were first introduced in 1992 as a optional feature to help sell the Grand Caravan as a family vehicle. It is a great idea and many families were impressed by the child seats. They were meant to help families with small children save time and money on the expense of buying a separate car seat.
Safety Recall or Safety Improvement?
The safety of grand caravan integrated child seats were tested back on October 1997 when The National Highway Traffic Safety administration administer a recall on the child seats. Dodge claims that it was not a safety recall. In fact that said it was a safety improvement. The recall affected about 157,000 units.
What was the problem?
If the shoulder harness were to become dirty or sticky, it could be hard to release the child from the seat. So putting it in plain terms when your child eats ice cream, drinks juice, or even a fast food burger don't let them spill it on the shoulder harness. Or maybe clean it up pretty fast before it stains.
What did the owner get when they called about the recall?
Dodge was quick to move on this recall concerning the safety of the grand caravan integrated child seat. For every owner who called they sent them two items to correct the mistakes that were made.
1. A Video – It was a video tape explaining how to properly use the car seats and maintain the car seats.
2. Harness Clips – The owners were also sent 2 harness clips with instructions on the proper way to install them.
Is the safety of the grand caravan integrated child seats still in question?
The new 2008 models have been equipped with all the latest gadgets and the integrated child seats are included with the package. Are they safer then the ones they issued 16 years ago? Yes they seem to be. The new integrated child seats come with the new harness clips build into the seat. Plus they have not had any more safety recalls or even safety improvements in the last ten years. The safety of the grand caravan integrated child seats are no longer a worry for the owners of these Dodge cars and trucks. So consumers can buy with confidence.