Evenflo preliminary evaluation PE14003
Car Seat Harness Buckle. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the harness/crotch buckle on 6 model years (2011–2012). Opened Jan 31, 2014, closed Jul 9, 2014 after 5 months. It led to safety recall 14C003000. became a recall
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedOn April 2, 2014 Evenflo notified the the agency that it would conduct a safety recall of 1,368,649 convertible and harness booster car seats manufactured with AmSafe QT and QT3 harness buckles. Evenflo specifically excluded from that recall the Embrace Rear Facing Infant car seats with AmSafe buckles. Please see recall 14C-003 for details of the recall. The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has upgraded this investigation to Engineering Analysis EA14-003 to focus on the Embrace Rear Facing Infant car seats produced with AmSafe buckles that were excluded from safety recall 14C-003. The ODI reports cited above, which were received through April 2, 2014, the date of Evenflo's Defect Information Report, can be reviewed at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchSafetyIssues under the following (ODI) identification numbers:10482687, 10483527, 10484695, 10502087, 10503896, 10521737, 10534021, 10542666, 10542864, 10546235, 10548880, 10549197, 10549573, 10554661, 10555117, 10559278, 10559771, 10560817, 10563917, 10563968, 10563986, 10564030, 10564056, 10564131, 10564342, 10564497, 10564498, 10564629, 10564938, 10565555, 10566042, 10567941, 10568751, 10568813, 10572823, 10573193, 10574313, 10588386, 10590412.
A Preliminary Evaluation is the first formal stage: NHTSA has decided the complaints and other information it screened are worth a closer look, and asks the manufacturer for its own data on the condition. 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: 2011 Evenflo Maestro; 2012 Evenflo Maestro; 2011 Evenflo Securekid; 2012 Evenflo Securekid; 2011 Evenflo Titan; 2012 Evenflo Titan.
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 PE14003 a recall?
No — it is the investigation that led to one. Recall 14C003000 is the campaign; its page carries the remedy.
Is PE14003 still open?
No. It closed on Jul 9, 2014 and led to recall 14C003000.
Which vehicles does PE14003 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 6 model years: 2011 Evenflo Maestro, 2012 Evenflo Maestro, 2011 Evenflo Securekid, 2012 Evenflo Securekid, 2011 Evenflo Titan, 2012 Evenflo Titan. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.