Can get sued if i install a friends car seat and the child is injured in a crash?

Jazlynn's Mommy

New member
My cousin has her 14 month old FF in a really old expired car seat. Not only that, she doesn't even bother to tighten the straps or buckle the chest clip. Up until a month ago she was buckling the car seat by taking the vehicle seat belt and wrapping it around the FRONT of the car seat!! I have tried to help her and mention little things without stepping on her toes. I have a new car seat i want to give her, but i would rather install it myself, that way i know it's in correctly. I'd rather her son be RF, but i'd settle for harness correctly at this point. So i'd like to show her how to install it and how her how to buckle him in the right way. I'm just worried about getting sued if anything did happen to him in an accident. I'm not a tech, so i don't know what the rules are. I just don't know how to go about getting through to her. Any ideas?
 
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Maedze

New member
You *can* be sued for just about anything, yes.

Rather than installing your friends' seats for them, it's best to refer them to qualified CPSTs.
 

amyd

New member
It would be ideal if she could/would see a CPST. If that's not possible, what about buying her the seat, reading through the manual with her & helping her learn to install it?
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
If you can't get her to a CPST (who, ideally, will teach her to install correctly), you should probably just teach her to install correctly. Read the manual with her, talk her through it, tell her, "When I'm having a problem with x, y helps... Why don't you try y?" Demonstrate if necessary but let her do most of the work. Then teach her how to check for proper fit and tightness herself. Not only are you limiting your liability, but you're teaching her to be self-sufficient in her install, so if/when she has to move it, she knows how to do it properly.
 

Jazlynn's Mommy

New member
Rather than installing your friends' seats for them, it's best to refer them to qualified CPSTs.

Good idea, but she's too lazy for that. She is too lazy to even buy her own car seat and make sure her son is strapped in, she's not going to "waste" her time setting up an appointment and letting someone else install it and show her how. I'm afraid she wont even let me do it :(
 

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
If her attitude is that poor, I wonder if you are doing both her and yourself a disservice by buying a seat that you know is likely to be misused. :(
 

noahsmom24

Active member
Maybe you could gather up some links and a video or two of what can happen to a child with a improperly installed car seat, and play it off as you were just looking on the net about car seat safety and WOW I found these. Oh and I also read..........
I mean she sounds like the type that isn't going to listen regardless, but you never know?

Good Luck!
That poor child :(
 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants
Basically, yes.

In most states, CPSTs are protected under Good Samaritan laws, as long as we are acting in good faith and within the scope of our certification. If our certification is expired, we are not protected. Someone with no certification would not be protected. (I'm not an attorney and this is not legal advice.)
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
You could be sued for anything, yes. But I highly doubt you'd be found guilty. As long as you are not portraying yourself as anything other than a helpful friend, it would be basically the same as helping out with any other thing in life.

If you help a friend haul and hook up a new stove, and then that friend turned on the gas and lit a match, you would have done nothing wrong. If you helped a friend change a tire, and then that friend drove over a nail and the tire blew out, you'd have done nothing wrong.
 

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