Most of the infant car seats tested by Consumer Reports "failed disastrously" in crashes at speeds as low as 56 km/h, the magazine reported on Thursday.

The seats came off their bases or twisted in place, the report said. In one case, a test dummy was hurled more than nine metres.

Of the 12 car seats tested, Consumer Reports said it could recommend only two, and it urged a U.S. federal recall of the poorest performing seat, the Evenflo Discovery. Some of the seats in the study, including the Graco Safeseat and the Graco Snugride, are sold in Canada.

Other seats mentioned in the test may have been purchased by Canadians in the U.S. and brought across the border, but they are not authorized for sale in Canada. Accordingly, most insurers will not cover any damages incurred while using the seats.

Transport Canada's standards for car safety are considered by some to be much stricter than U.S. regulations.

Evenflo issued a statement disputing the tests' validity, saying, "The magazine's test conditions and protocols appear to conflict with the collective experience of car seat manufacturers, NHTSA [the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration] and the scientific community."

To be sold in Canada and the United States, an infant seat must perform adequately in a 48 km/h frontal crash, and Consumer Reports found that all but the Discovery did so.

Consumer Reports noted that the NHTSA crash tests most cars at higher speeds — 56 km/h for frontal crashes and 61 km/h for side crashes — so the magazine tested the seats at those speeds.

"It's unconscionable that infant seats, which are designed to protect the most vulnerable children, aren't routinely tested the same as new cars," said Consumer Reports' Don Mays, a product safety director.

NHTSA Administrator Nicole Nason issued a statement saying: "We are always interested in making car seats better and safer but not more complicated and difficult for parents … We don't want consumers misled into thinking holding a child is better than putting it into a car seat."

Nine seats failed some or all of the higher-speed tests, Consumer Reports said, while meeting the federal 48 km/h standard. Another seat was judged unacceptable because it did not fit well in several cars, the magazine said.

Messages seeking comment were left with the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, a trade group.

Still ... any is better than none

The magazine tested the type of seat that faces the rear and snaps in and out of a base. It used test dummies weighing 22 or 30 pounds (10 or 13.6 kg), depending on the seat manufacturers' claims.

In the 56 km/h test, seats separated from their bases, rotated too far or would have inflicted grave injuries, Consumer Reports said. At 61 km/h, four seats flew out of their bases, it said.

The only seats that passed all the tests were the Baby Trend Flex-Loc and the Graco SnugRide with EPS — expanded polystyrene foam — both selling for about $90 US. Consumer Reports urged parents shopping for seats to buy one of those two, but it also noted that "any child car seat is better than no seat at all."

It also said some seats performed better when attached by vehicle safety belts than when attached with the LATCH system. The system, which stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children, includes belts that hook the base of a car seat to metal anchors in the vehicle.