Graco engineering analysis EA13001
Child Seat Harness Buckle. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this engineering analysis about the harness/crotch buckle on 2 model years (2012). Opened Feb 21, 2013, closed Dec 1, 2014 after 21 months. It led to safety recall 14C001000, 14C004000. became a recall
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedThe Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this investigation as PE12-031 on October 15, 2012 to investigate harness buckles in car seats produced by Graco Children's Products, Inc. (Graco).During the investigation ODI discovered that Graco used three different harness buckle designs in the manufacture of certain booster, convertible, and rear facing infant (RFI) car seats produced between 2005 and 2014. The three buckle designs are identified as the ?Signature, ?QT, and ?QT3 which were all manufactured by AmSafe Commercial Products, Inc. All three buckles use unique internal latch components and operate differently, and all have different release button designs. On February 7, 2014, Graco submitted a Defect Information Report (DIR) to recall 3,773,379 toddler and booster seats produced with the buckles described above. On March 7, 2014, Graco amended the DIR adding an additional 403,222 toddler and booster seats in the recall. Please see safety recall 14C-001 for details related to the recall. On June 27, 2014, Graco submitted a second DIR recalling 1,910,102 RFI car seats produced with the QT1 buckle. This DIR also stated that Graco would conduct a Customer Satisfaction Campaign (CSC) to replace the Signature and QT3 buckles used on the non-recalled RFI models for the useful life of the car seat (seven years from the date of manufacture).Under the CSC, users of the non-recalled car seats can obtain a replacement buckle, free of charge, should they have a concern with their buckle. In addition to the approximately 6.1 million recalled car seats, the CSC covers approximately 2.3 million RFI car seats. Please see safety recall 14C-004 for additional details of the recall and CSC. ODI is closing this investigation based on Graco's recall and CSC actions to replace the buckles in all of the car seats it produced with Signature, QT1 and QT3 buckles. Additional information concerning the investigation can be found in the closing report available on SaferCar.gov. The ODI reports cited above can be viewed at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchSafetyIssues under the following ID numbers:Convertible and Booster (162): 10454450,10454393,10450712,10446071,10445997,10445988,10445975,10428246,10421053,10418155, 10413817,10406827,10402771,10397449,10473717,10466250,10463507,10455029,10454295,10444493, 10413648,10401202,10475529,10467797,10444593,10433600,10414471,10414449,10410574,10392858,10384014,10383056, 10366950,10366522,10363586,10361369,10430498,10456547,10397307,10475529,10381470,10381465,10366645,10312165,10477267,10478809,10481182,10481243,10481236,10481233,10481219,10482654,10482941,10483551,10483732,10483940,10485417,10486165,10487751,10487824,10489662,10488855,10489296,10489536,10490292,10491819,10493243,10493351,10493614,10493649,10493668,10493620,10494411,10494567,10494580,10494769,10494876,10493716,10494635,10495130,10495042,10495301,10496034,10496146,10496063,10496344,10496470,10497637,10497771,10498293,10498468,10498529,10499325,10499426,10499547,10499718,10499706,10499775,10500067,10500604,10500828,10500814,10501073,10501314,10501480,10502290,10502580,10502711,10502990,10504056,10504076,10505061,10504727,10504743,10505107,10505150,10505393,10508181,10508007,10509096,10509116,10510061,10510620,10511254,10511591,10512725,10514281,10516073,10521015,10524253,10482283,10260861,10260630,10260622,10260619,10260251,10524928,10526273,10526254,10531818,10533013,10533662,10535355,10548933,10549812,10549404,10550369,10550731,10550926,10551551,10552014,10552114,10554347,10555537,10556441,10558757,10559124,10561932,10561769,10561786,10562299,10563648 RFI (30): 10498308,10500767,10522316,10537013,1054348
A Engineering Analysis is the deeper stage, usually upgraded from a Preliminary Evaluation: NHTSA tests, requests engineering documents and decides whether a safety defect exists. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the opening and closing resumes with the full reasoning are on NHTSA’s site under this number.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one became a recall. The campaign page carries the manufacturer’s filed defect, risk and remedy, the build window and every model year covered; whether one specific vehicle is included is settled by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themAlso named: 2012 Graco SIZE4ME 70; 2012 Graco Snugride Oasis 1802503.
A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs EA13001 a recall?
No — it is the investigation that led to one. Recall 14C001000, 14C004000 is the campaign; its page carries the remedy.
Is EA13001 still open?
No. It closed on Dec 1, 2014 and led to recall 14C001000, 14C004000.
Which vehicles does EA13001 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 2 model years: 2012 Graco SIZE4ME 70, 2012 Graco Snugride Oasis 1802503. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.