Press Release

Evenflo Responds to Consumer Reports' Warning About Child Car Seats

09/12/96

Evenflo Company Responds to Consumer Reports' Rating of its
Travel Tandem Car Seat


PIQUA, Ohio, Sept. 10 -- Evenflo Company, Inc., today
responded to Consumers Union's (CU) "unacceptable" rating with respect
to the Evenflo Travel Tandem car seat. In addition the Company issued
an opposing viewpoint to CU's testing process and facility, which led
to the rating.

"Evenflo has been manufacturing infant and child car seats for more
than 20 years and has considerable experience in the design,
manufacture and testing of these products," said George Harris,
president of Evenflo.  "When we learned of Consumers Union's test
results, Evenflo conducted additional testing of the Travel Tandem car
seat at the U.S. Government's official test facility and those tests
confirmed that the car seat will do what it is designed to do -- fully
restrain its occupant even at severity levels in excess of the Federal
Standard."

Consumers Union tested the Travel Tandem with a 20-pound dummy, which
became the new U.S.  Government standard Sept. 1. Previously, the
Federal Standard required testing with a 17-pound dummy.

"Evenflo has tested the Travel Tandem with the 17-pound dummy, the new
20-pound dummy, as well as the 17-pound dummy weighted to 20-pounds at
the Government's official test facility and the Travel Tandem performs
well," said Gary Christman, director of product development for car
seats at Evenflo.

According to Christman, Evenflo products are designed to meet or
exceed Federal Safety Standard 213 (FMVSS), which was created by the
U.S. Government after considerable study and consultation with experts
from many different fields. FMVSS 213 subjects child car seats to
forces more severe than those generated in almost every possible real
life collision. Specifically, the Federal Standard calls for a 30
m.p.h., direct, head-on collision into a fixed immovable barrier. This
results in a force that is significantly more severe than that
generated in real life collisions, which normally involve moveable
objects. Even real life collisions that occur in excess of 30
m.p.h. generate a force that is considerably less severe than those
specified by the Federal Standard.

"The Federal Standard essentially seeks to ensure that child restraint
devices will remain intact during survivable automobile collisions,"
Christman said.

Additionally, Christman notes that the Federal Standard dictates a
much shorter deacceleration time than that which occurs in normal real
life collisions. This shorter deacceleration time creates a higher
potential for injury because the less time people have to stop, the
more likely they are to be injured. Real life collisions deaccelerate,
or stop people, over a considerably longer period of
time. Deacceleration in even severe real life collisions occurs over a
time frame of 110 to 150 milliseconds, while the Federal Standard
specifies a stricter deacceleration over a time period of 80
milliseconds.

"Consumer Reports used a testing facility with a deacceleration curve
that is even more severe than the Federal Standard," Christman
explained. "So they essentially tested the product to failure and
found it unacceptable. But any product can be tested to the point of
failure. The important question is not whether a product can be made
to fail, but whether a failure will occur in real life."

And finally, Christman points out that the Federal Standard was
developed in the late 1970s and sought, in part, to replicate
conditions within a 1975 Chevrolet Impala. However, since 1975,
automobile manufacturers have significantly improved the
crashworthiness of automobiles by designing crumple zones into cars,
using energy absorbing materials, improving the function of seatbelt
systems and increasing the density and shape of seating surfaces. Yet
the Federal Standard continues to require that child car seats perform
in the considerably harsher environment of the 1975 Chevrolet Impala.

"Evenflo has now conducted numerous tests on the Travel Tandem car
seat at the U.S. Government's testing facility and also at the
facility used by Consumer Reports," Harris said. "Each time, the
Travel Tandem has performed well. However, any Travel Tandem owners
who might be concerned can contact Evenflo for an easily installed
reinforcing plate. There is nothing more important to Evenflo than our
customers. We want them to feel good about their Evenflo products."

Evenflo can be contacted by calling 1-800-448-6924 or by writing to
Evenflo at 1801 Commerce Drive, Piqua, Ohio, 45356.