The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is alerting consumers of a recall involving certain Britax child restraints that could fail to properly secure young passengers in the event of a vehicle crash.

"It is extremely important that parents and caregivers are aware of the recall and take action to get their child restraints repaired," said NHTSA Acting Administrator David Kelly.

Britax is recalling these child seats because the harness straps may detach from the metal yoke on the back of the child restraint if repeatedly loosened one strap at a time. The affected models include Britax models E9L54E7, E9L54H6, E9L54H7, E9L54M6 manufactured on or before September 14, 2008, and model E9L5490 manufactured on or before September 17, 2008.

To the fix the problem, Britax will mail rubber caps that prevent the straps from detaching to all registered owners.

In addition, Kelly is urging all parents and caregivers to sign-up with NHTSA to automatically receive updates about child seat recalls via email. NHTSA research shows that less than half of affected consumers respond to child seat recalls.

"One of the reasons we see such a low return rate is because owners are difficult to reach if they have not registered the seat with us or the manufacturer," said Kelly.