How Do I know if My Car Seat is Safe?

Every parent wants to ensure the safety of their child, including buying a car seat for when you place your child in a car. It is usually a good practice to buy a car seat before your child is born if you are buying for a new-born. However, there are other practices relating to choosing the right car seat and fitting it which can help ensure your child’s safety. 

Important Tips for Buying a Car Seat

• It is best to try and fit the car seat into your car before buying it. Most retailers will happily help you see if the seat fits before purchase. Therefore, you should ask if anyone has been trained on how to fit car seats at the store you are fitting the car seat, as this can help ensure that the seat is definitely properly fitted.
• You should always choose a baby or child car seat that’s right for your child’s current height and weight. For example, children who are roughly aged between 9 months and four years who weigh 9-18kg should have a forward-facing seat. Rear-facing seats are suitable for children up to aged fifteenth months or children who weigh up to 13kg. 

How Do I Know if the Seat is Secure?

Regardless of the make and model of the car seat, the most important way to ensure that your child will be safe in their car seat is to follow health and safety guidelines. The health and safety guidelines for securing a car seat include: 

• Make sure the straps are tightly fitted over your child’s shoulders without hurting them. The top clip of the straps should be placed over your child’s sternum to ensure they are safely secured. 
• All outwear and bulky clothes should be removed before placing the child into the car seat. Bulky clothes can cause the straps to slip off the shoulders or not be secured tightly enough.
• If the child is below fifteen months or they weigh less than 13kg, they should be in a rear-facing seat to ensure their safety.  

If you are unfortunately involved in a car crash, it may be necessary to replace your child’s car seat. If the impact was low speed, there was very little external damage to the car and there was no child in the seat when the impact happened, then it may be okay to not replace the seat. However, it is understandable that some parents might want to replace the seat anyway after such an incident for peace of mind. 

Your insurance company can sometimes cover the cost of such replacements after a car accident depending upon the circumstances and damage done. 

Problems with a Defective Car Seat

However, very occasionally you could fit the car seat correctly but there could still be a problem with the seat, leading to injury. Car seat manufacturers are liable for the safety of the products they make. In the UK, they must currently still abide by the European Safety Standards rules: 

• Warn customers about the potential risks of a car seat
• Provide full instructions about how to properly fit and use the car seat
• Monitor the safety of the car seats they manufacture
• Take action if there appears to be a fault with a certain batch or model, such as a product recall

If there is a defect with your car seat and this causes injury, then you will likely receive compensation. The amount of compensation you are owed will be dependent upon the injuries your child has suffered, such as a broken leg which could mean they are awarded up to £21,000 for a serious leg injury. If this sort of leg injury meant they required long-term assistance and it impacted upon their ability to walk or general health long-term, then they may be able to claim up to £100,000.

To find out more please use our compensation calculator.

Compensation will also take into account ‘special damages.’ Special damages refer to extra costs associated with the injuries/accident and treatment. This includes a recuperation of a loss of earnings if you have had to take time off work to take care of your child or if your child has had to have treatment not covered by the NHS. 

Making Personal Injury Claims

If your child has been injured due to a manufacturing problem with a car seat, you may be entitled to compensation. First Personal Injury is available to assist you and ensure that you get the compensation you deserve. 

To learn more or to start your claim, get in touch with our expert team on 0800 808 9740 or contact us online.