Consumer Reports magazine today retracted an article on infant car seats, published two weeks ago, that said most of them had failed side-impact crash tests.
The tests were supposed to simulate an impact at 38 miles per hour, but actually simulated more than 70 m.p.h., according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which was so startled by the article that it tried to duplicate the magazine’s results at a government laboratory last weekend. The agency does not have a standard for side impacts but said that at 38 m.p.h., the seats all appeared to do well.
The magazine said it had decided to retract the article after receiving data from the highway traffic agency.