U.S. – CPSC Adopts ASTM F833-19 for Carriages and Strollers in Direct Final Rule

Vol. 1097 | 09 Aug 2019

As part of the rulemaking process required by Section 104(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA), the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), through a direct final rule, has approved the new ASTM F833-19, to be incorporated in the federal regulation: 16 CFR 1227 – Safety Standard for Carriages and Strollers.

As defined by the ASTM standard, carriage is a “wheeled vehicle generally used for the transport of an infant who is generally in a lying down position. The motive power is supplied by a person or persons pushing or pulling on a handle attached to the vehicle. A carriage may be capable of being folded for storage.” While a stroller is a “wheeled vehicle for the transport of infants or children generally in a sitting-up or semi-reclined position. The motive power is supplied by a person moving at a walking rate while pushing on a handle attached to the stroller. A stroller generally is capable of being folded for storage. Strollers normally are used for children from infancy to 36 months of age.”

The 16 CFR 1227 safety standard, when promulgated, incorporated by reference the ASTM F833-13b standard for carriages and strollers. Since then, the ASTM F833 has gone through multiple revisions. The current ASTM F833-19 standard has the following significant revisions:

• Tray/Grab Bar Protective Covering: new definitions, requirements, test method and warnings added to address incidents of children biting foam on the grab bars, which are potentially a choking hazard.
• Static Load Test: besides tip over, collapse, sharp points & sharp edges and small parts, ‘failure to support test weight’ was added as an additional condition of non-compliance, providing more clarity.
• Some unit conversion changes to keep consistent with other ASTM durable nursery product standards and some editorial revisions. 

Upon review of this latest ASTM F833-19 safety standard for carriages and strollers, the CPSC has determined that the standard has significant revisions that would make it a more effective safety standard. 

The revised ASTM F833-19 standard will become the mandatory Safety Standard for Carriages and Strollers effective November 5, 2019, unless the CPSC receives any significant adverse comments by September 3, 2019. 

Carriages and Strollers manufactured on and after this date shall meet requirements of this rule. In addition, the products manufactured on and after this date will also require certification per 16 CFR 1110 based on testing at a CPSC approved Third party accreditation body (third party lab) for the revised 16 CFR 1227.

The Final Rule can be reviewed at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-08-02/pdf/2019-16524.pdf

For questions, please contact Laxmi Ravikumar (laxmi.ravikumar@intertek.com, +1-630-209-9265).