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NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Preliminary Evaluation PE14-003: Car Seat Harness Buckle

  • Closed

NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Preliminary Evaluation PE14-003 on January 31, 2014 and closed it on July 9, 2014. NHTSA's investigations file lists 4 Evenflo models for it and links recall 14C-003 to it.

Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file

Key facts

NHTSA number
PE14-003 (also written PE14003)
Investigation type
Preliminary Evaluation The first stage of most defect investigations: NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation gathers basic information about a possible safety defect, including from the manufacturer.
Status
Closed July 9, 2014
Opened
Closed
Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
Evenflo Company, Inc.
Component
Child Seat — Harness/Crotch Buckle
Recall linked by NHTSA
Vehicles and equipment
4 Evenflo models, including the Maestro and Securekid

NHTSA's summary

As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Preliminary Evaluation PE14-003.

On 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.

Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation

NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Preliminary Evaluation PE14-003. 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.

Evenflo

  • Evenflo Chase

    • model year not given

  • Evenflo Maestro

    • 2011, 2012
    • model year not given

  • Evenflo Securekid

    • 2011, 2012
    • model year not given

  • Evenflo Titan

    • 2011, 2012
    • 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 PE14-003

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.