clarification on seat replacement criteria?

singingpond

New member
I was just reading Jeanum's very useful thread about carseat replacement (in the Articles and FAQs section). Unfortunately, I now have occasion to refer to it personally. I'll highlight my main questions below, since I know I tend to write too much :D.

My old and always reliable '96 Corolla was rear-ended yesterday, with 3 (unoccupied, fortunately) carseats in the back seat. It was a pretty major impact, and I'm confident the repair costs will far exceed the book value of the vehicle.

The rear hatch was smashed in, the rear glass broke, and the whole body of the car is deformed enough that 3 of the 4 doors won't open (only the front passenger door opens).

As far as the NHTSA 'minor crash' criteria mentioned in Jeanum's thread, can anyone clarify what 'damage to doors' actually means? In my case the doors themselves look OK (were not directly impacted), but neither rear door will open. No airbags deployed, and I was able to drive the car home after the trooper finished recording information. I felt physically OK right after the crash, although I have a sore neck (nothing terrible though) this morning -- not sure that that really qualifies as an injury; certainly it seems to be a minor one.

The seats in the car are FF Marathon, RF Radian XTSL, old-style Parkway.

My first intuition was that, since I felt pretty much OK, the unoccupied seats should be OK; however, on reading the replacement criteria in that thread, I'm not so sure now.

And, although I'm grateful that my children weren't in the car, and that I came out OK, I'm getting steamed about the carelessness of the other driver (an 18-year-old, who told me "I just didn't look for a moment!") -- my car, old as it was, was running just fine, and we really really didn't need the expense and hassle of buying another car right now :( . Whatever her parents' insurance ends up paying won't even come close to fixing the financial results of her carelessness :mad:. And my 9-year-old, who is feeling emotionally shaky already at the moment for other reasons, is absolutely in tears over the coming loss of the car he's ridden in since he was born...


Katrin (who is really in the holiday spirit this morning, as I head outside to clean out my no longer very weather-proof car)
 
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Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
Oh no, how infuriating and so sorry that you're dealing with this. :(I believe the Radian's manual indicates to replace after any crash, and I'd say your door damage qualifies the crash as more than a minor crash using the NHTSA criteria Britax follows, especially if 3/4 of the doors are inoperable. I'd also worry about the glass fragments being impossibly hard to fully remove from all the nooks and crannies of all 3 carseats. :twocents: Gentle ((hugs)), hope your soreness decreases rapidly, and the insurance claim goes as smoothly as possible.
 

dragonmama

New member
That is so frightening, I am sorry you are going through this. I am not an expert, but I agree that by almost any definition, it sounds like your seats should all be replaced. The good news is, assuming the other driver is insured, her insurance should pay for the replacement of your damaged carseats, over and above whatever the cars value is determined to be.
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
Doors are supposed to open, and if three of them now aren't, it's because of some sort of damage keeping them from doing so. Whether or not you can see the damage from the outside is irrelevant. Sounds like a bent frame or something, which I would consider much worse than a door-ding.
 

Pixels

New member
When I was rear-ended, my crash very nearly met the NHTSA definition of "minor crash." The only thing that wasn't okay was I had some pain for a couple of hours after the crash - it felt like someone punched me in the back of the head, and in the lower back. It went away after a few hours, and no soreness the next day.

However, this same crash met SKJP's definition of "major crash" and qualified for them to replace DD's Radian for free. The frame was bent, crumple zone crumpled. The car actually didn't look that bad from the outside, you had to look sorta closely to even see that there was anything wrong. It took a full month in the body shop to get fixed. It was not a minor crash.
 

singingpond

New member
Thanks to all who responded on this thread! It certainly helped clarify the situation, as far as replacing the unoccupied carseats. Now that we finally have our replacement vehicle (2008 Prius), I can work on finding/fitting replacement seats. The other driver's insurance, fortunately, is being very cooperative about this -- they simply told me to send in receipts for equivalent (in terms of cost) replacements -- no requirement to get exactly the same seats.

Thanks again for the help!
 

mommy-medic

New member
Yayyyy!!! Thanks for the update and so glad they are working with you!

By the sound of your original post it wasn't a minor crash- if the rear was pushed in that much and it broke the glass, inhibited the operation of the door, and so on you are absolutely doing the right thing by replacing your seats. The main thing "minor crash" covers is having your foot slip off the brake while stopped and tapping someone, or backing into a light post in a parking lot. :twocents:

As for your old seats- make sure to destroy them. Cut the harnesses, write "damaged- do not use" alllllllll over the shell so nobody goes dumpster diving for it. If you feel confident you can get all the glass out you can save the covers if you want- parental decision. (some people also opt to save the harnesses if the seat was unoccupied, but the shell itself should not be trusted with a Childs life.)
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
Thanks for sharing your update. Glad to hear insurance is being cooperative and on board with covering replacement carseats.
 

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