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When Children’s Car Seat are Defective

BIKLaw Medical Malpractice Lawyer > Product Liability > When Children’s Car Seat are Defective

How safe is your child’s car seat? Recently, several children’s car seat manufacturers have issues recalls on their products, for one reason or another. For example, Combi USA was recently forced to recall over 30,000 child car seats because federal officials believed the restraining straps could break in the event of a crash. This forced recall followed Combi’s request that it be “excused from the recall” because the failure to meet the federal safety standard was “inconsequential to motor vehicle safety.” Any experienced personal injury attorney would take great offense to this seeming lack of consideration for human life.

Government agencies will run random ‘spot checks’ of products to determine if the products live up to set standards. On that note, during a spot check of child car seat straps last fall, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) detected strap failure in many of the car seats.  Unfortunately for the innocent consumer, many defective products go unreported or unnoticed until someone is injured. 

Children, perhaps due to their smaller size, seem to be at the most risk for certain injuries caused by defective products. According to the most recent numbers released by the CDC, more than 1,200 children ages 14 years or younger died as occupants in car crashes and about 171,000 were injured. While studies have shown that car seats can help reduce and infant or toddler’s risk of injury if used properly, problems in the manufacturing, such as defective car seat straps, put children at risk.

If your child was injured by a defective car seat, you may be able to seek financial compensation for your child’s injuries. Manufacturers of defective products, including child seats, can be held liable for the injuries and damages they cause. Injured victims, or the parent on the child’s behalf, can seek damages including medical expenses, hospitalization, permanent injuries and pain and suffering. 

For more information on defective product liability and / or to discuss how to bring a lawsuit for a defective product, contact the aggressive trial lawyers at BIKLAW today.

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