Evenflo Company, Inc. announced a voluntary recall of its Maestro Combination Booster Seats on Friday, after the product failed independent crash tests, which showed the seat can crack and fail in a simulated 30 mph frontal collision.

 

The Ohio-based company is recalling 4,479 seats in Canada made through April 26 of this year, along with nearly 14,000 seats in the U.S. which were built from Nov. 24, 2009 to April 9, 2010. The voluntary recall affects seats with model numbers starting with 310.

 

Evenflo has characterized the voluntary recall as "proactive" and in a statement, emphasized there have been no reports of any cracking occurring in the field and no injuries have been reported.

 

The company says it will send notices to registered owners of the seats and plans to distribute an easily installed reinforcing bracket that will fix the problem.

 

Children weighing under 40 pounds should not use the seat without the repair bracket, according to the company. Those over 40 pounds can still use it as a seat belt-positioning booster until the repair kit arrives.

 

Evenflo has reassured consumers that it will remove all the affected seats from store shelves.

 

Model numbers of the seats can be found on a white label behind the seat above the highest shoulder belt slot, the company said. It said other Maestro models are not affected.