NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Preliminary Evaluation PE24-026: Child seat harness may not restrain occupant in the event of a crash.
- Closed
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Preliminary Evaluation PE24-026 on September 18, 2024 and closed it on April 22, 2025. NHTSA's investigations file lists the Nuna Rava CS50 and Rava for it and links recall 24C-002 to it.
Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file
Key facts
- NHTSA number
- PE24-026 (also written PE24026)
- 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 April 22, 2025
- Opened
- Closed
- Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
- Nuna Baby Essentials, Inc.
- Component
- Child Seat — Harness — Front Adjuster Button/Release Mechanism
- Recall linked by NHTSA
- 24C-002 (NHTSA record)
- Vehicles and equipment
- Nuna Rava CS50 and Rava
NHTSA's summary
As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Preliminary Evaluation PE24-026.
try.vin does not copy NHTSA's investigation documents; NHTSA's investigation record lists the ones NHTSA has published.
On April 18, 2024, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received a Defect Petition (DP) requesting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigate Nuna Rava child seats for a harness that can allegedly loosen without pressing the harness release button. The Petitioner stated there were 24 complaints in the NHTSA database all describing a similar issue. According to the Petitioner, "this condition has poor detectability and the consequence of failure in case of a crash would be severe or fatal injury". On April 25, 2024, ODI received a second DP requesting NHTSA investigate Nuna child seats for a similar allegation as the initial petition. Upon receiving these petitions, ODI sent an Information Request (IR) letter to Nuna on May 16, 2024, asking for information regarding the petitioners’ allegations. Nuna responded to ODI’s IR letter on June 21, 2024. On July 18, 2024, Nuna submitted a supplemental response to ODI’s IR letter. After evaluating the petitioner’s allegations and Nuna’s responses to ODI’s IR letter, ODI decided to grant the petition and open this defect investigation. On September 18, 2024 ODI opened PE24026 on the 2020-2022 Nuna Rava child seats. These seats had significantly higher failure rates than other model year Nuna Rava child seats analyzed in the DP IR response. Following a meeting with ODI to discuss precedent recalls from peer manufacturers, Nuna filed recall 24C-002 on November 27th, 2024. This recall affected Nuna Rava child seats manufactured from July 16, 2016, to October 25, 2023, which covered the entire scope of PE24026. After submitting this recall, Nuna requested relief from responding to a new IR letter ODI sent on October 24, 2024 for PE24026.
ODI granted partial relief but required Nuna to respond to some of the requests. After receiving recall 24C-002 and Nuna’s partial PE24026 IR response, ODI is closing this investigation with recall 24C-002. The Agency reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by future circumstances. To review the ODI reports cited in the Closing Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov.
Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation
NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Preliminary Evaluation PE24-026. 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.
Nuna
Nuna Rava
- model year not given
Nuna Rava CS50
- 2020, 2021, 2022
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 PE24-026
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.