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1998 CHEVROLET TAHOE — Complaint #335033

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NHTSA Complaint about CHILD SEAT:HARNESS BUCKLE:INFANT filed February 20, 2002

NHTSA complaint #335033 (ODI reference 758294) concerns a 1998 CHEVROLET TAHOE and was filed on February 20, 2002. The owner reports the failure occurred on February 9, 2002. The report was geocoded to Minnesota based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as child seat:harness buckle:infant, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.

The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: yes, fire: no, injuries: 2, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. No VIN was supplied by the filer, so this complaint contributes to model-year trend data but cannot be tied to a specific vehicle.

Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same CHEVROLET TAHOE cohort independently describe similar child seat:harness buckle:infant failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 1998 CHEVROLET TAHOE shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
1998 CHEVROLET TAHOE
Component
CHILD SEAT:HARNESS BUCKLE:INFANT
Crash
Yes
Injuries
2
State
Minnesota

Complaint Description

THIS IS TO REPORT THE FAILURE OF A CENTURY BRAND CHILD CAR SEAT IN AN TRAFFIC ACCIDENT. CENTURY CAR SEAT MODEL: 45100STH, MANUFACTURER'S DATE: 06-30-2000; PURCHASE DATE APPROXIMATELY 8/00. SEAT WAS PROPERLY INSTALLED IN CHEVROLET TAHOE AND CHILD WAS PROPERLY SEATED AND BUCKLED INTO CAR SEAT. ACCIDENT OCCURRED ON 2/9/02; APPROXIMATE TRAVEL SPEED: 50 MPH, IN 4-WHEEL DRIVE. TRUCK SPUN OUT OF CONTROL ON ICY ROAD AND CAME TO STOP IN A DITCH. CHILD WAS COMPLETELY EJECTED FROM THE CAR SEAT; BUCKLE ACROSS CHEST BROKE AND CAME OPEN DURING CRASH. PROPER INSTALLATION AND BROKEN/FAILED PART NOTED BY BOTH WITNESSES AND POLICE AT THE SCENE. PLEASE CONTACT US FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/COPY OF POLICE REPORT. THIS HAS BEEN REPORTED TO CENTRY PRODUCTS.*AK

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 335033
ODI Number 758294
Date Filed February 20, 2002
Failure Date February 9, 2002

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.