seats in accidents

Hi, I have a car seat that is essentially brand new. I used it less than 2 months about 2 years ago. Then I was rear-ended-VERY minor. No damage to the car or anything. Just a tap in bumper to bumper traffic-less than 5 mph actually. At the time I put the seat in the garage and bought a new one. Did I do the right thing? Could the seat really be used? I hate to throw it away if I don't have to. I wonder if it is OK to use-perhaps I could donate it to charity or give it to someone I know who can't afford a car seat. Obviously I don't want to endanger anuyone's child. Thanks for your input. At the time of the accident I got information from a few CPS techs in my state. Most said it was fine to use the seat given the minor nature of the "tap", but that I may feel more comfortable with a new seat.

Hi-

We generally are conservative and recommend replacement in any crash. My best advice is for you to call the manufacturer of your carseat and get their input. Sometimes, they may allow you to continue to use the car seat, especially if it was unoccupied and if there was no damage to vehicles or injury to any passengers in the crash.

Most charities will not accept used seats because of liability concerns. If the manufacturer tells you that you may continue to use the seat, then you could consider giving it away to someone or selling it. Please disclose the nature of the crash to them, of course

i know evenflo tells you to replace ANY crashed seat, no matter how minor.

if you were rearended, you might be able to have the other driver's ins company to pay for your new seat...or at least the replacement cost for the one sitting in your garage.

i was rearended a couple years ago, i was at a dead stop and the other car was going about 45 mph. thank goodness i was alone, it was pretty bad. they fixed my car but should have totalled it out, it was that bad. anyway...we closed the whole claim without even thinking about dd's carseat that was in the car but unused at the time. i called the ins company back and told them i wanted it replaced...they reopened the claim (because this was a issue that hadn't been brought up before) and paid the cost of my old evenflo seat. i used the $$ towards a more expensive britax seat. all the ins company wanted was some proof from evenflo that it needed to be replaced, and my receipt for purchasing a new seat.

of course, at that time i knew nothing about replacing seatbelts! arrrgh. by the time i found out about that, i'd gotten a new car, so it wasn't an issue....i feel a bit guilty about whoever got my old car though...wish i knew who they were so i could warn them to have the belts replaced.

Thanks-there was never an insurance claim as neither car had any damage whatsoever. The woman that hit me gave me a check for $100 to replace the seat to avoid it going through her insurance. I called the manufacturer and they said they recommend replacing any seat even empty, no damage to the cars etc. That is why I asked the cps techs in my area. The manufacturere of course not only has liability to consider but also the sale of another seat! LOL! It is just a shame to throw away a seat that is most likely OK. Thanks!

One more thing-

Rather than throw it away, you might try to locate a technician instructor in your area. They can often accept unusable seats and "use" them for training classes. In some areas, they may receive "rewards" for them as there are sometimes publicity events to destroy unsafe car seats.

The technicians you visited should be able to tell you how to contact one of their instructors.

Good luck!

yup that's what i was going to suggest. there are techs who collect seats. not that i'd ever do that or anything

LOL