NEENAH - Recently, a routine night shift for Children’s Wisconsin Fox Valley Hospital NICU transport nurse Amanda Dassler became more eventful — and not in a good way. 

Before an infant staying in the NICU — or neonatal intensive care unit — can go home, they must meet a number of milestones on a checklist. The last is being able to maintain a sufficient heart rate and oxygen saturation levels in their car seat for 90 minutes, which the nurses test in the hospital. 

But, as Dassler loaded one infant into their family-provided car seat, she noticed several red flags. 

There wasn't a level indicator on the car seat, the chest clip was oddly large, the logo was unfamiliar, what little safety information there was on the seat was misspelled and she could not find a manual online.

Enlisting the help of two of co-workers, who like Dassler are car-seat educators, they found the seat on eBay. The manufacturer was listed as “unknown,” but was traced to China.

“It just seemed off,” Dassler said. 

Eventually, through running a series of Google searches, Dassler found a 2019 CNN article about counterfeit car seats. Its corresponding video depicted the same car seat as the one sitting in front of her — a knockoff of the popular Doona brand — being crash-tested at 30 mph and shattering. 

“It’s so scary,” Dassler said. “It looks exactly like a Doona, just cheaper.” 

The child’s parents were notified the next day and were aided in finding a safe car seat. 

As Jane Howard, Children’s Safety Center manager and certified child passenger safety technician instructor, explained,

Foreign counterfeit seats like the one Dassler found are dangerous because they don't meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, which are required to legally sell car seats on the open market. Such seats have been reported as being sold on Amazon.com, Kmart.com, Walmart.com, Sears.com and more, according to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration’s complaint logs. 

“We’ve been hearing about these coming into the United States for a while,” said Jane Howard, the Safety Center manager at Children's Wisconsin and a certified child passenger safety technician instructor.

"It was just a matter of time” before Children's Wisconsin saw one firsthand, she said.

Samm Nelson, a certified passenger safety technician who works with families online and in-person in the Neenah area, said sometimes those who buy fake car seats online never actually get a car seat. 

She echoed that, just because a car seat is deemed safe for use abroad, it doesn't mean it's safe by U.S. standards or legally usable in the U.S. Those car seats don't undergo the same testing and many don't have a chest clip, which she said is essential to keep the shoulder strap in place. 

Here are some steps parents and caregivers can take to ensure they're buying a legitimate car seat: 

Children’s Wisconsin offers car seat checks. Its events can be viewed and appointments can be made at safekids.wi.org/events/Car-Seat-by-Appointment. Children’s also provides communities with low-cost, reliable car seats. For more information on this program, call 414-607-5280. Additional car seat resources can be found at childrenswi.org and safekids.org. 

NHTSA also has an online car seat and comparison tool. 

There are many ways to report suspected counterfeit car seats. To ensure future sales get shut down, it’s important to report to all agencies, Children’s said. Below are those reporting channels: 

StopFakes.gov (U.S. Department of Commerce)

We're looking for recent car-seat buyers

Have you recently gone car seat shopping? We want to hear from you! Email mlammert@gannett.com to share your experience. 

Madison Lammert covers child care and early education across Wisconsin as a Report for America corps member. She is based at The Post-Crescent in Appleton. To contact her, email mlammert@gannett.com or call 920-993-7108. 

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