Replace a Child’s Car Seat After Any Accident? Pt. 2
Personal Injury Attorneys |What constitutes a minor accident after which you could consider keeping your car seat?
Personal Injury Attorneys | Ask yourself the following questions. If you can say “yes” to all five question, NHTSA would say you could keep using the seat:
- Was the car able to be driven away from the accident?
- Was the door nearest the safety seat undamaged?
- Were all occupants of the vehicle uninjured?
- Did the air bags remain undeployed?
- Is there no visible damage to the car seat?
Why the Shift In Car Seat/Accident Policy
So why the change in the NHTSA policy? There are actually several reasons. Some have to do with what studies and science have revealed about what happens to car seats in minor vehicle accidents. The in-a-nutshell summary simply holds that seats in minor accidents continue to meet federal standards for performance.
However, science was not the only basis for the decision. NHTSA reviewed their former blanket-statement policy and realized how it might affect families.
One concern, of course, is the financial burden of replacing seats. More than that, NHTSA realized that parents might be tempted to not replace a seat and use the car seat belts instead.
NHTSA wanted to avoid parents moving a child to car seat belts before they are physically ready for that milestone.
A Good Reason to Avoid Used Car Seats
Incidentally, the concern of not knowing car seat accident history is a huge reason for not buying used car seats. If you did answer “no” to any one of the above questions, and you do need to replace your car seats, I would strongly encourage you to buy new seats. You can find several new inexpensive car seats if you want to keep the damage to your wallet at a minimum. New car seats also have a longer use sincecar seats expire. -Verywell.com
For more information do not hesitate to call our Personal Injury Attorneys at Printy Law Firm | Tampa 813.434.0649 | Tallahassee 850.877.7299
