WASHINGTON -- Consumer Reports magazine backed off Thursday from its recent negative report on infant car seats, saying test crashes were conducted at speeds higher than it had claimed.

The magazine reported earlier this month that most of the seats it tested "failed disastrously" in crashes at speeds as low as 35 mph.

In one test, it said, a dummy child was hurled 30 feet.

In a statement issued, Consumer Reports said it had received information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the speed at which the side-impact tests were conducted -- supposedly, 38 mph.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the crash tests were conducted under conditions that would represent being struck at more than 70 mph -- twice as fast as the magazine claimed.

A new report will be published with any necessary revisions as soon as possible after the new tests are complete, Consumer Reports said.

"To those who may have seen the report earlier in print, on the web, or in broadcasts, we urge you to remember that use of any child seat is safer than no child seat, but to suspend judgment on the merits of individual products until the new testing has been completed and the report re-published," a press release from Consumer Reports stated.

Phil Haseltine, head of the National Safety Council's Air Bag and Seat Belt Safety Campaign, fears that it may be hard to undo the damage.

He is afraid some parents may have become reluctant to use infant car seats because of the Consumer Reports study.

Haseltine said it will take a "substantial education effort" to erase the fears that were raised by the report.