NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Audit Query AQ20-001: Timeliness of 49 CFR 579 Reporting (EWR)
- Closed
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Audit Query AQ20-001 on July 20, 2020 and closed it on January 16, 2025. NHTSA's investigations file lists 3 Harmony models for it.
Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file
Key facts
- NHTSA number
- AQ20-001 (also written AQ20001)
- Investigation type
- Audit Query An administrative investigation into compliance with federal vehicle safety requirements, such as reporting Early Warning data on time or carrying out a recall.
- Status
- Closed January 16, 2025
- Opened
- Closed
- Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
- Harmony Juvenile Products
- Component
- Child Seat
- Vehicles and equipment
- 3 Harmony models, including the Defender 360 and Dreamtime
A recall appears here only when NHTSA's investigations file links one to the investigation; NHTSA's summary or record can name others.
NHTSA's summary
As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Audit Query AQ20-001.
On July 20, 2020, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an Audit Query (AQ) to investigate Harmony Juvenile Products’ (Harmony) reporting of death and injury claims and foreign recalls under 49 CFR Part 579. NHTSA’s investigation was prompted by a fatal incident involving child restraints manufactured by both Harmony and another manufacturer for which NHTSA received death and injury reports from the involved vehicle manufacturer and the other child restraint manufacturer. NHTSA did not receive a report from Harmony until after NHTSA contacted the company. NHTSA was also aware of foreign recalls of Harmony products that NHTSA believed may have been substantially similar to products sold in the United States but were not reported to the Agency. In response to NHTSA’s information request issued during this investigation, Harmony asserted that because of the unique requirements for service of process for foreign entities (Harmony is located in Canada) and the limited information available to the company, Harmony did not have enough information regarding the fatal incident to submit a report to NHTSA under Part 579 until after Harmony was contacted by NHTSA. Harmony also responded that there were no foreign recalls involving substantially similar products that Harmony did not report to NHTSA. After NHTSA opened this AQ, Harmony improved its processes for compliance with Part 579 by taking the following actions: (1) formalizing its previously unwritten procedures for reviewing communications to help ensure that future communications would be reported to NHTSA pursuant to 49 CFR 579.5; (2) auditing customer contracts to determine whether any may have met the reporting requirements for consumer complaints under 49 CFR 579.25(c); (3) auditing its records to see whether there were analyses of field incidents that meet the definition of a “field report,” which Harmony is required to report to NHTSA; and (4) reviewing charge-back information provided by U.S. retailers to determine whether Harmony had any information that would qualify as a paid warranty claim, which Harmony is required to report to NHTSA. In May 2022, Harmony stopped selling child restraints in the U.S. However, in July 2024, Harmony notified NHTSA that the company had re-entered the U.S. market during the second quarter of 2024 and that it conducted internal training about the early warning reporting requirements for manufacturers of child restraint systems in in 49 CFR 579.25. Given the information obtained through the investigation and Harmony’s compliance efforts that are described above, continuing this investigation into Harmony is not warranted and this investigation is closed. The Agency will continue to monitor Harmony’s reporting pursuant to 49 CFR Part 579. The Agency reserves the right to take further action if warranted by the circumstances.
Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation
NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Audit Query AQ20-001. A listed model year means only that an investigation names it; it says nothing about any particular vehicle. Model years with a try.vin recall page link to that page's NHTSA investigations section.
Harmony
Harmony (model not given)
- model year not given
Harmony Defender 360
- model year not given
Harmony Dreamtime
- model year not given
Harmony Optyma
- model year not given
What an NHTSA investigation is
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) looks into possible safety defects in vehicles and equipment, often after owner complaints. An investigation usually starts as a Preliminary Evaluation, or as a Recall Query when it concerns whether an existing recall covers the right vehicles or fixes the problem, and ODI can upgrade it to a more detailed Engineering Analysis. A Defect Petition asks NHTSA to open an investigation, and Audit and Equipment Queries are administrative investigations into whether companies complied with federal vehicle safety requirements, such as reporting, recall and certification rules.
An open investigation is not a finding that a safety defect exists, and NHTSA can close one without a recall.
To see whether a specific vehicle has an open recall, enter its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Free VIN check: decode a VIN to see its year, make and model.
Sources
NHTSA's investigation record for AQ20-001
Investigation details come from NHTSA's investigations file, which try.vin imports once a day. The investigation types are described from the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General's May 2023 report on NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, NHTSA's petition rules (49 CFR Parts 552 and 557) and NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation procedures. How try.vin reads NHTSA investigations.