How to Know If Your Child’s Car Seat Is Defective

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that child safety seats reduce fatalities by 54 percent for children aged one year or older. The seats reduce infant fatalities by up to 71 percent. To provide the protection for which they are designed, the seats must be installed and used properly. Defective car seats are another problem.

Research revealed that from 1998 to 2001, manufacturers recalled 10 million child car safety seats due to defects. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that the popular car seat manufacturing company Graco was ordered to pay three million dollars in fines after lawsuits were filed secondary to defective lawsuits that caused injuries.

Is Your Child’s Seat Safe?

Parents ensure the safety of their child’s car seats by taking a few precautions. Use seats that are less than a decade old. Parents may not realize that car safety seats have expiration dates stamped somewhere on the plastic frame of the device. Check the seat for possible wear and tear in the form of cracks, frayed straps, faulty buckles or harness adjustment components. Never reuse a child’s car safety seat that has been involved in an automotive collision. Although the device may appear intact, the shock that the seat undergoes during impact often causes weaknesses.

Before purchasing a car seat or accepting a device from another individual, check the seat against the Child Seat Recall Campaign Listing website for possible defect reports. Search the site using the manufacturer’s name and the specific make and model of the seat along with the model number. All the seats created from 1981 are listed and inform parents whether they are part of a recall.

Common Car Seat Defects

• Buckles-Safety seat buckles are designed to secure an infant or child in the device. Defective or improperly manufactured buckles may unfasten easily, which results in injury should the child fall out of the seat with or without vehicle impact. Chest clips- the components are used to adjust the harness to ensure the child remains secure in the seat. Broken, cracked or defective clips do not hold the youngster in place, which may result in injury.
• Handles-Infant seats often feature a handle that enables the seat to be removed from the vehicle. However, a defective handle may cause the seat to release from the handle. The seat falls and the child suffers injury.
• Seat base-Some car seat models attach or detach from a base, which remains in the vehicle. If the base portion of the device is defective, the seat might detach during a vehicular collision. The seat flies forward along with the infant or child, which results in several injuries.
• Seat padding-The padding installed in car seats is designed for comfort and safety. Damaged padding may contribute to spinal or traumatic head injuries.

Defective Child Car Seat Injuries

Automotive collisions are traumatic for all the individuals involved. However, when a child suffers injury due to a defective car seat, the trauma is that much more heart-wrenching. Defective car seats may cause permanent disability or death of a youngster.

The family suffers ongoing emotional and mental stress. They may endure financial hardship secondary to medical expenses. If a defective car seat results in a child’s injury, families should consult with a San Francisco defective product attorney.

Contact the Cartwright Law Firm

Our law firm has defended clients in personal injury courts cases for more than six decades. Attorneys from the Cartwright Law Firm are experienced in dealing with defective product cases. Our San Francisco defective product attorney staff remain devoted to treating each case individually. At Cartwright Law Firm, we have a reputation for investing our energy, money and time to ensure the best outcomes for our clients. While acting as a San Francisco defective product attorney, we strive to make defective product manufacturers accountable for problematic child car safety seats.

Contact our office and schedule an appointment to have your case reviewed. Let us help you receive the compensation that your case deserves.

Reference: U.S. children at risk from poor adherence to car seat guidelines, study warns