Safety is now affordable for everybody.

This thread on car-seat.org describes, with photos, what I saw at Target this morning. I was thrilled to see it. It's not because I need a new carseat, as I have 3x as many carseats as I have children. It's because so many people say they can't afford a seat that has a high rear-facing weight limit, and now, thanks to the new Cosco Scenera, everybody can. This seat retails for roughly $50, and the new one rear-faces to 40 pounds. The old one rear-faces to 35, which still isn't bad, but the 40 pound limit is really in tune with current recommendations that all children rear-face until AT LEAST two years old, but preferably longer (that comes from the American Academy of Pediatrics, by the way).

Granted, the Scenera is not a dream seat by any standards. It's bare bones, has little padding, and not a lot of leg room, but you know, if you've got $50 to spend on a seat, and nothing more, this one will give you more than your money's worth. Its shell is short, and harness slots are low, but it will get most kids past their 2nd birthday rear-facing, and that's a lot more than can be said for a lot of the seats on the market today, especially in that price range.

Dorel Juvenile Group, which manufactures this seat, should take a lesson from their own experience. They also manufacture the brands Eddie Bauer and Safety First, in addition to Cosco. I find that their Safety First brand is stepping up its game significantly with the Air Protect line. (I almost bought a Complete Air for Orren, but got a Radian instead). However, they still manufacture the truly sucktacular Alpha Omega Elite, which is marketed as a 3-in-1 (rear-facing, forward-facing, and booster), but is completely terrible in all 3 capacities. That same seat is marketed under the Eddie Bauer name also, and is JUST as awful. Dorel is notorious for trying to put ten pounds of shit in a five pound sack, so to speak, but their one true success, the one of the only things they make that has not been recalled, AND doesn't cost a million dollars, AND isn't gimmicky, is the Scenera.

Hey, Dorel/Cosco, maybe you should just stick to making stuff that works. Forget the ten million useless bells and whistles that half the time cause parents to misuse the seat. Forget the gimmicks like something being "the only carseat you will ever have to buy your baby!" because, let's face it, most kids aren't big enough for a seatbelt until they're 9 or 10 anyhow, and NO seat that can rear-face is EVER going to be tall enough to be an effective booster. Maybe you should do more of what you did here with the Scenera, and put simple safety and affordable best-practice in the hands of every family. I think the 40 pound rear-facing weight limit on the new Scenera represents a huge victory for extended rear-facing. For all Dorel's flops and foibles, this is a home run.