Trenton Defective Car Seat Attorneys
Child Car Seat Injuries
Child car seats have made headlines in recent years because of growing concerns about their safety. As parents know, age-appropriate car seats are legally required in New Jersey for children up to age 8 or 80 pounds. But those parents who use infant and child car seats recently have been confronted with a series of safety recalls and questions about the seats' ability to withstand an accident. In fact, more than 10 million child safety seats have been recalled for safety reasons in the past decade. And when child safety seats fail, children can be killed, suffer brain damage or otherwise be subject to serious injury -- even when their parents follow every safety rule.
The most serious child car seat problems occur when the seat can't do its most important job -- protect the child in a crash. Most child car seats have a shell that holds the child, attached to a plastic base that is belted into the car with a seatbelt and LATCH system. To protect the child, the seat and the base should not separate, the seat should not rotate on its base and the seat belting system should stay secure. Unfortunately, that is precisely what has happened in some cases. When the seat rotates, a small child can be tossed from side to side, leading to spinal, head and soft tissue injuries. When the seat comes off its base or the base detaches from the car, the child can be thrown from the seat or from the vehicle like a rag doll, causing death, permanent brain injury or other serious disability.
Car seat defects can also cause problems when a car is stopped. Some seats have been recalled because of safety concerns about their padding and lining. Some linings are flammable, giving the child an unreasonable risk of very serious burns. Other linings come apart too easily, exposing a baby to a choking hazard while the parent is distracted by driving. Cracks in the plastic of the seat have led to pinching, cuts and inadequate protection in accidents. And models with handles have been recalled because handles can fail unexpectedly, sending the seat and the child crashing to the ground.
In early 2007, Consumer Reports magazine made headlines when it declared that more than three-fourths of the car seats it tested were unsafe at its test speed of 35 to 38 miles per hour. Because federal safety standards require car seats to withstand an impact of only 30 miles per hour, the magazine had to withdraw its recall recommendations. But it joined parents, safety officials and advocates in calling for tougher standards for the seats -- including higher-speed testing and a side-impact test. And it maintained its call for a recall of a model it said was impossible to install correctly, the Eddie Bauer Comfort seat. The magazine's initial call for a recall of the Evenflo Discovery seat may have been vindicated in February of 2008, when the manufacturer recalled some Discovery infant car seats, after federal government tests showed they can fly off their bases in a side-impact collision.
Most parents do everything they can to keep their children safe, but some manufacturers cynically put profits over safety -- even when babies' lives are at stake. If a defective car seat failed to protect your child, New Jersey law gives you the right to hold the manufacturer legally liable. Lependorf & Silverstein can help. We are a personal injury law firm with more than 15 years of experience helping people injured in auto accidents and by defective products. Based in Princeton, we serve clients with serious injuries throughout New Jersey. We're proud of our record of substantial wins, including millions of dollars for people who have been hurt in car, truck and motorcycle crashes. And because we work on a contingency fee basis -- which means we are paid out of your winnings -- we never ask for legal fees until your case is already won.
If you or someone you care about was injured in an accident with a defective child car seat, call Lependorf & Silverstein today for a free consultation.
