What You Need To Know About Booster Seats and Car Accidents
Child safety seats and booster seats are designed for young children who are not taller or large enough to be protected by traditional seat belts. Various kinds of child safety seats and booster seats are available depending on the child's age. Babies and toddlers, for example, have safety seats designed especially for them, while older children who are kindergarten age have booster seats better designed to their height and weight.
While these seats can prevent serious harm in single-vehicle and multi-vehicle car accidents, our Melbourne personal injury attorneys would like to consider cases in which these seats may fail or cause injury. Should this occur, you might have a legitimate defective product lawsuit.
Proper Use of Car Safety Seats
When using a car safety seat, it's important that you consider the age, height, and weight of your child. Child safety seats and booster seats are most common for children up to the age of 6. By age 7 or 8, children should be large enough to ride in a vehicle without the aid of a booster seat.
Make sure that the safety seat or booster seat is properly secured in the backseat of your vehicle. Do not use these kinds of seats in the passenger seat of your car or truck. For infants, it's especially important that you have the child safety seat facing toward the back of the vehicle rather than the front of the vehicle. This helps prevent serious spinal cord and neck injuries to the infant in the even of a collision.
Should I Replace My Safety Seat After an Accident?
In many cases, the answer is yes.
If you are involved in a serious collision of some kind, it's important that you replace the safety seat with a new one. There may be cracks and fractures in the old safety seat that make them potentially unsafe for future use.
For minor fender benders or accidents that only cause vehicle damage, using the same child safety seat should be fine. Keep an eye out for cracks in the seat or other signs of structural damage, however.
Defective Car Safety Seats: What Consumers Should Know
While many child safety seats and booster seats are safe, there are times when the makers of these safety seats are negligent. This could lead to the safety seats being harmful rather than offering protection from injury. In severe cases, this could mean the difference between a close call and a tragic collision.
Potential Flaws with Car Safety Seats
Some potential flaws that may affect your child safety seat include:
- Incorrect height, weight, and age recommendations
- Shattering plastics and other materials
- Poorly secured straps
- Faulty buckles and clasps
- Shoddy craftsmanship
If any errors by a maker of safety seats and booster seats leads to a severe injury, it's of the utmost importance that you seek out the help of product liability attorneys. These lawyers can help hold negligent companies accountable for their costly actions, seeking damages and ensuring that justice is served.
Learn More About Your Legal Options After A Car Accident
For more information about your legal rights following an accident, be sure to contact our team of experienced auto accident attorneys today by calling 321-308-8020. The team here at Charpentier Law Firm looks forward to your visit and discussing these matters in greater detail.
WE HAVE A HISTORY OF SUCCESS
IN BREVARD COUNTY
Over the past 40-plus years of helping Brevard County's injured and mistreated, our firm has obtained some $65 million in recoveries on behalf of our clients, highlighted by an $15.5 million product liability award.
The team at Charpentier Law Firm has the negotiation skills to reach favorable settlements in many cases, but also has the experience and perseverance to try a case to verdict whenever it is in the best interests of our clients. Our history of success illustrates our dedication to our clients and their pursuit of justice. Our personal injury attorneys in Melbourne, Titusville, and Cocoa are proud to offer superior legal representation to victims and their families throughout Brevard County and Central Florida.