XSCi's Limited Capacity, Coupled with the Industry, Anticipates Production Shortfalls May Put Babies' Safety In Jeopardy

    COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--Jan. 9, 2003--New infant car seat safety standards are set to go into effect in September 2004.
    These standards are designed to improve the safety of traveling infants. Using state-of-the-art design technology, and (with the help of EXXON Engineering) utilizing advanced automotive plastics, one company has already designed, tested, and is now selling an infant seat that meets and exceeds the new safer standards. But there may not be a large enough manufacturing capacity to supply the need--a prerequisite for allowing any new standard to go into effect.
    Adding to the dilemma is the fact that many baby seat manufacturers are now challenging the final timing for the new standards. According to XSCi, juvenile product manufacturers wish to postpone the introduction of these standards since their present products can't meet them. To some present seat manufacturers, the new standards will bring about the need for expensive engineering, new tooling, and the obsolescing of present inventories; these items will cost them money. Unless they are given additional time to phase in new products, some present producers simply don't want to change.
    There are over 4,000,000 babies born in the United States every year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requires that babies be transported in an approved infant seat. If manufacturers cannot collectively meet the new standards and the manufacturing demand, NHTSA will not be able to put the new standards into effect.
    The Pioneered(TM) Infant Safety Seat is a product that meets, and surpasses, the proposed 2004 standards; it is produced by Xportation Safety Concepts, Inc. (XSCi), a company whose charter is to generate, test, and prove the viability of new safety ideas. By design, XSCi is not set up to produce more than a limited number of seats (around 50,000 annually), just enough volume to prove its concepts and the viability of its manufacturing processes. For NHTSA to be able to formalize a standard, it must be assured that a significant number of compliant infant seats can be manufactured to meet the anticipated demand.
    The question XSCi asks is: Should the public, by default, accept out-dated safety standards? Or, should means be found to entice others in the industry to step up to the plate and help produce infant seats that meet the new standards? Parents should not be short-changed when it comes to protecting their infants.
    The Pioneered(TM) Infant Safety Seat separates and isolates the infant from obstacles normally encountered during a crash. In fact, XSCi even goes beyond 2004 standards and includes airbag and barrier testing in their product development. With its unique design, the baby is riding in a separate carrier (cradle) that is suspended by shock mounts inside an outer shatter-resistance deflector base. No matter where the parent chooses to place the baby--in the front or back seat--the baby is protected from the impact of hitting an airbag, back of front seats, dashboard or console. Tests of the Pioneered(TM) Infant Safety Seat show that a deploying airbag actually stabilizes and further protects the baby from injury.
    It is important for NHTSA to receive whatever support is required in order to be able to have the new standards become affective without delay since with every day postponement, another day of added danger to the lives of traveling infants is created. For more information about XSCi or its Pioneered(TM) Infant Safety Seat, call 800/630-6850 or visit www.safeinfant.com.