Advice on replacing car seats after crash

[Unregistered]

OK, Im in the UK and not sure whether my car seats are available in the USA.

I was hit up the rear of my Renault Scenic. The woman said she was sat behind me at roundabout and jolted forward (automatic car) as she took her eye off ball and foot off the brake. I had my two kids and my dad in the car.

My son ws in his Britax Evolva 123 on the passenger side behind my dad. My daughter was in her Britax First Class Si behind me (the driver). The main impact was on the rear drivers side and the crash reapir guy reckons the damage caused would have been at a speed of around 15mph not from just jolting forward, so either the woman was lying or her car was real heavy (mercedes)

My daughter was asleep and didnt even wake up.
My son didnt even really react apart from saying his neck was a bit sore.
My dad had headaches and I have had neck pain and headaches so think I have moderate whiplash.

OK, regarding the car damage - the bumper has been shoved to the right and is split along the right side (drivers side rear), the crash repair guy says that the floor of the boot has been shunted so it needs straightening or replacing. The car is still roadworthy and driveable.

Thats the only damage - no damage to chassis, no visible damage to seats or harnesses, no airbags went off.

I have actually purchased new seats as the 3rd party insurers will hopefully cover this. But, I am a single mum and my kids dad has really old car seats from a group called freecycle so he doesnt know history of them. Im wondering whether to give him my old seats or if thats just a silly idea and should I just scrap them?

Any opinions please??!! Thank you x

[Mama Jo]

This is what Britax advises in the US - I can't speak for the UK, but I would think it would be the same...


Britax recommends that the use of a child seat be discontinued if it has been in a severe crash. We further advise of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) position that it is not necessary to replace a child seat after a minor crash. A minor crash is one that meets ALL of following criteria:


* The vehicle was able to be driven away from the crash site;
* The vehicle door nearest the child restraint was undamaged;
* There were no injuries to any of the vehicle occupants;
* The air bags (if present) did not deploy; AND
* There is no visible damage to the child seat.


((That's directly from their website. I believe that a sore neck and/or whiplash would constitute as an injury, and that you should therefore replace the seats, but maybe a tech on here can confirm that for you. But then again, this is in the US, so maybe your seats are different and approved to withstand the kind of accident you were in. The seats you have are not approved or available in the US. So I guess my information probably isn't worth much to you! Sorry!!))

[Unregistered]

Thanks for the advice. I guess its better safe than sorry! Im looking into getting rearward facing now anyway as did a bit of research and found this site:

http://www.rearfacing.co.uk

didnt even know there were rearward facing after 13kg!

[Mama Jo]

Good for you!! If you do some reading on this site, you will find that everyone here promotes extended rear-facing. In the US, our seats only allow for RF'ing up to 35 lbs., but that can get alot of our kids to 3 years old, sometimes even close to 4. There are seats manufactured in Sweden that allow RF'ing up to 55 lbs! ((No clue what that is in kg's... we American's like to make things difficult and not use universal measurements like everyone else in the world... lol))