Consumer Complaint Detail

EDDIE BAUER / ALPHA ELITE 22-755 / 9999

Recalls
1 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 007106751 Incident Date: May, 21 2007
Consumer's City: VENTURA Consumer's State: CA
Vehicle Transmission Type: Manufacturers Name: Dorel Juvenile Group
Model Name: ALPHA ELITE 22-755 Model Year: 9999
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Child seat
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 1
Vehicle's VIN#: Date added to File: May, 23 2021
Date Complaint Received: May, 22 2007 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: -
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: No
Number of Cylinders: 0 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: 1) we have an eddie bauer alpha elite car seat #22-757-mrc from dorel; 07/06/05. this seat has an adjustable back which we recently moved to a higher position. for the past few days, our 2yr old son has been progressively more adamant in asking us to "put his shirt down". at first, we thought that his shirt was just bunched up as he was stating making him uncomfortable, but as we made sure that the shirt was (iron) flat against his seat and still he complained, we were unclear of what the issue was. yesterday, 5/22, the problem was made clear: while taking my son out of the seat, i saw that he had placed his arm behind his back to provide lower back support. by raising the seat there is a gap created in the lumbar area. this is a fundamental flaw in the product design - it is ergonomically incorrect. 2) the failure really is the product design; that it is ergonomically wrong. lower back problems are a major issue and without proper lumbar support, my son as well as other children are in danger of acquiring and/or exacerbating back problems. this product should be recalled given further analysis and confirmation by ergonomic engineers/experts. 3) the first action to correct the "real" problem was my son putting his arm behind his back. the next action was taken this morning to put a small rolled up blanket behind his back to provide some level of support. this is a workaround and does not truly address the ergonomic issue. i am not an ergonomic expert, and so for me to put a rolled up blanket and believe that it is providing consistent and correct support without testing would be wrong. in fact, dorel says that no objects should be added to their product. the final action was that i called dorel this morning, 5/23, to alert them of the issue and see how they could ameliorate it. i am writing to you today to escalate what i believe may be a significant safety problem that should be remedied immediately - i did not get that feeling of urgency from dorel.