CHILD CAR RESTRAINTS : SAFETY TAKES A BACK SEAT

©by Stephen L. Goldner, attorney

Are child safety seats ( car seats) really safe products? A combination of factors, including poor design, inadequate warnings and a very outdated federal law lead to thousands of unnecessary injuries and several hundred deaths each year. Although all 50 states mandate the use of child seats, oftentimes the protection they afford is minimal.

Millions of seats have been recalled in the last 10 years. I have represented far too many families who have suffered the loss of a child or had a child terribly injured in an accident, when other passengers involved in the same collision sustained only minor injuries. In each case, the injured child had been properly restrained in a child safety seat. How is this possible? Here are three reasons.

First, the manufacturers of child seats are primarily in the juvenile product and toy business . Most of the companies who make these seats do not even employ an engineer or have an engineering department.

Second, the ONLY testing that child restraints undergo is based upon a standard which dates back to 1970. Child seats are NOT tested to see how they would perform in a rear-end collision, side impact or rollover accident, even though these account for a combined 50% of all automobile accidents.

Third, by law, each manufacturer gets to test its own seat and then certify that the restraint passes the standard. This may explain why millions of seats continue to be recalled by virtually all of the child restraint makers.

10 Tips For Traveling Safely With Your Child

1. Do not buy a used car seat unless you can satisfy yourself that it has never been involved in an accident. Accidents can effect the integrity of the seat in ways that may not be obvious.
2. Fit the child restraint to your car—some seats will be easier to install than others.
3. Pay close attention to the manufacturer’s recommendations as to size and weight restrictions.
4.Avoid two-piece ( carrier and a base ) seats—they are prone to separate in certain collision environments. Evenflo recently recalled over one million of these seats! ( February 1,2008 )
5. If your vehicle and your child seat are equipped with the “ LATCH “ system, use only the latches as recommended. Do not use the vehicle belts and also the latching mechanism at the same time.
6. Do not use an “insert” or blanket in the area around your child’s head or shoulders. These can alter the path of the harness straps.
7. Check the NHTSA website periodically to be sure your seat has not been the subject of a recall. ( www.nhtsa.dot.gov )
8. As you go from place to place during the day, make a habit of checking the restraint to be certain it remains securely attached to your vehicle.
9. Mail in the registration card that comes with every new car seat. That way you can be notified should the seat ever be recalled.
10. Be an inquisitive buyer----all child seats are not created equally.

For more information on child safety seats and links to websites of interest, visit :
www.goldnerlawfirm.com