NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Defect Petition DP20-003: Car (child) seat crashworthiness
- Closed
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Defect Petition DP20-003 on April 3, 2020 and closed it on March 15, 2021. NHTSA's investigations file lists the Britax Frontier Clicktight XE for it.
Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file
Key facts
- NHTSA number
- DP20-003 (also written DP20003)
- Investigation type
- Defect Petition A petition asking NHTSA to open a defect investigation; NHTSA grants or denies it, and granting one opens an investigation.
- Status
- Closed March 15, 2021
- Opened
- Closed
- Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
- Britax Child Safety, Inc.
- Components
- Child Seat; Harness/Buckle/Adjuster
- Vehicles and equipment
- Britax Frontier Clicktight XE
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 Defect Petition DP20-003.
NHTSA received a petition involving subject production year 2015 Britax Frontier ClickTight XE booster seats commonly used for children 2-years old and older weighing between 25-90 pounds while traveling in a vehicle. The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Defect Petition DP20-003 for a November 2019 crash event involving a subject seat. The crash involved a Model Year (MY) 2016 Nissan Rogue striking a telephone pole in a frontal collision. A subject seat, installed at the driver side rear seat, experienced a structural failure allowing the harness to pull through the seat back. According to a police report, this failure contributed to the death of a 4-year-old occupant. Notably there were two other occupants in the Rogue who survived the crash with injuries, the driver and a 3-year-old who was seated in a different make/model car seat at the rear passenger side seat position.
During the DP, ODI sent Britax a letter (dated April 17, 2020) requesting, amongst other things, a count of allegations of the subject seat failing structurally during, or otherwise incurring structural damage as a result of, a vehicular crash event. Subject seats were defined as all Frontier Clicktight seats, regardless of production year. In its response of May 28, 2020, Britax identified a single allegation, the same crash event that was the subject of the Defect Petition received by ODI. Additionally, ODI conducted an inspection of the incident seat and vehicle, confirming the failure of the seat back and restraint system, and the significant damage to the front of the subject vehicle.
To date, no determination as to the cause of the incident seat structural failure has been established, either by ODI or Britax. In addition, questions exist regarding the installation and prior usage of the incident seat. ODI is granting petition DP20-003 and opening a Preliminary Evaluation (PE21-007) to broaden the scope of its information request to include potential structural failure allegations in other Britax model seats.
ODI will potentially evaluate peer car seats, in order to establish a broader data set upon which to base its assessment.
There are two vehicle owner questionnaire reports, both submitted by the petitioner, which can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov using the following reference numbers: 11319247 and 11317879. Britax's response to ODI's request letter is also available for review at NHTSA.gov using Investigation DP20-003.
Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation
NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Defect Petition DP20-003. 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.
Britax
Britax Frontier Clicktight XE
- 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 DP20-003
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.