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Children are at a particular risk when riding in a car; their bodies are small, more fragile, and are affected by the force of a crash differently than adults. This is why child car seats were designed to help protect children when they are vulnerable to injuries.
A factory car seat intended for adults is impractical in protecting children in a car accident. In fact, their small bodies can have some adverse severe physical effects when the seat belt holds them back.
In some cases, it can be fatal. However, matters are more complicated when you restrain your child in a car seat, and they are still hurt because the car seat was defective.
You may have a claim if a defective car seat hurts your child. Car seat manufacturers are supposed to follow strict guidelines enforced by governmental agencies, but when they fail to do so, the results can be catastrophic.
Know that if this happens to your child, you do not have to fight this alone. With the help of your local legal team at Bert McDowell Injury Law, you can trust that we will do whatever possible to secure the compensation your case deserves.
Get started today when you call our local Hartford office at (203) 633-7449 or contact us online to schedule a free case review.
Car seat accidents can lead to serious injuries to children that can have long-term effects on their quality of life and childhood.
Car seats are created through thorough, careful design and engineering, with many parts that, if produced incorrectly, will impact the seat’s ability to restrain the child correctly. Defective designs can invoke the legal field of product liability law, allowing injured claimants (and adult parents/guardians if the victim is a minor) to seek appropriate damages.
If your child was injured in a car accident, you know that filing a claim against a defective car seat manufacturer is time-sensitive. Although you can approach this on your own, when you add to the mix filing a claim against a manufacturer, having an attorney by your side is the best decision you can make to help you receive the compensation your case deserves.
Filing a claim against a manufacturer comes with its complications. Companies are quick to deflect blame or use pressuring tactics to convince you to settle for less.
In many cases, they pressure victims to settle for nothing.
However, when you have an experienced legal advocate by your side, you know they will do whatever is possible to keep companies from using tactics that negatively affect your compensation amount. Your attorney will work diligently to collect and review your case, study the evidence, and use it to develop a claim that indicates why you are entitled to the amount you are owed.
Attorneys know what to expect and how to prepare a solid claim that supports your requested compensation when filed. They will serve as your representative throughout the process, answering questions and providing necessary information between parties.
Most importantly, they will represent you if your claim happens to go to court.
Facing a big company alone puts you at a disadvantage, so prepare to assert your legal rights and seek appropriate damages with the legal knowledge and experience that only a professional attorney can provide.
At the speed at which cars move on the road, any type of accident can result in serious damages and injuries. Children placed inadvertently in a defective car seat are most at risk.
They may face serious bodily injury, if not ejection from the car, as the seat that is meant to keep them safe fails to do so.
Child car seats are considered dangerous when they have:
Most babies will grow 9.5 inches from the moment they are born until they reach one year of age. Given their frequent growth spurts, children’s car seats must be able to adapt to their growing bodies.
Adjusters are meant to move to accommodate a growing body, but if they are defective, they cannot adjust properly, leaving the child loose in their seat or loose throughout the car ride.
Bases are meant to always remain in the car so that it is easy for parents to remove and place the child’s car seat as needed. When the base is defective, it will not lock when the car seat is locked into place.
This can make the car seat go airborne, colliding with the frame of the car, or worse.
Chest clips must securely lock each time a child is in the seat, but when they are defective, they will not latch correctly, making it easy for the child to release them or become unlatched in transit.
The chest clips help protect the child’s body in the event of a collision. If a crash occurs, it keeps the child safely secured to the car seat.
Children can easily undo defective latches, which can become extremely dangerous in a moving car. In addition, the force of the car in a collision can cause them to become loose on impact, putting the child in a deadly situation.
In the worst car accidents, exposure to oils, chemicals, and other flammable materials may make a car accident extremely dangerous. However, when a child’s car seat is made with flammable materials, the child becomes at risk of burns and other disfiguring injuries that will have life-long impacts.
Padding is used for comfort and as a layer of protection between the child and the plastic chair they sit on. The material used to build the chairs combines plastic and metal, making it very uncomfortable without padding.
When there is a car accident, the passengers will be thrust forward and suddenly back as the car comes to a stop. If the child has inadequate padding in their car seat, their body — including their head — will hit the hard plastic of their car seat, causing injuries.
The straps are what hold the child to the seat, but if they are inadequate, a crash can be fatal. Straps can snap or loosen with the force of a crash, possibly restraining the child incorrectly, causing further injuries, or ejecting them from their seat completely.
Car accidents can cause numerous types of injuries, but when you involve a child in a defective car seat, they are exposed to additional injury. Car seats, if they become loose or faulty, can cut, bruise, break bones, organ damage, and cause severe head injuries in the right circumstances.
Children who face serious injuries from car accidents due to a defective car seat will be uncomfortable, require many weeks to recover, may need time from school and with their friends, and more. The child may face injuries so severe that they require surgery, hospitalization, casts, and may lead to possible disfigurement.
Also known as cuts, lacerations often require stitches and possibly minor surgery to correct, resulting in scarring and disfigurement of the body. Lacerations can happen anywhere on the child’s body during a car accident.
They might be on their head, extremities, and torso.
Also known as bruising, contusions typically require minimal medical attention; however, they should still be studied by a doctor as they may be a symptom of a more severe injury, like organ damage or a broken bone. Medical staff may want to perform scans like MRIs, CT scans, and X-rays to confirm that bruising is not a sign of something much more serious.
A developing child may break their bones when in a defective car seat after a crash. Broken bones can be especially dangerous if they puncture any organs.
Victims must undergo surgery, physical therapy, medication, and wearing a cast to correct their injury. Treatment for broken bones can take many months and might cause moments of pain for some time afterward.
With faulty straps, clasps, and adjusters, children may experience organ damage from the car seat. The chair restraints are designed to minimize injury to the child, but when they are defective, the straps may apply restraint to the wrong part of the body.
When this occurs, the child may experience bruising and swelling to their organs, causing issues with their proper function and requiring surgery to correct the issue.
Head injuries are one of the most dangerous types of injury a child can endure in an accident. Children are consistently growing, meaning that their bodies are changing and developing as a result.
Head injuries can include traumatic brain injuries, concussions, hematomas, and more. These medical conditions may present changes to the child’s cognitive function, their ability to sleep or remain awake, and their ability to focus while playing or at school.
Car accidents are frightening enough, but when you add children and a defective car seat to the equation, the situation becomes even more dire for all involved.
If your child was hurt in a car accident because of a defective car seat, know that you are not on your own to take on big car seat manufacturers. At Bert McDowell Injury Law, parents can find comfort in knowing that our team will be ready to fight for them and their children.
No child should face injury because of a defective car seat. Call our Hartford office today to speak to one of our team members.
Schedule your free case review today when you call (203) 633-7449 or contact us online.