FYI: Local lawsuit with Dorel Touriva + death

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mommy2jana

New member
I caught this on the news this morning, too. That little girl was born around the same time my dd was. I wonder what will come of the lawsuit?
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Uh....probably not the lack of padding, but the fact that she was FF in the middle, unapproved, slots in an OHS might have had more to do with it...and if she was in an OHS seat FF in the middle slots, chances are nearing 100% that the seat was installed wrong/harness too loose/no top tether...

Not that I'm defending Cosco, or a government that allows OHS seats and seats with unreinforced middle slots or doesn't mandate top tether usage....

I hope that drunk driver rots. Dead babies make me sad :(
 

amy919

New member
Sorry, to me it sounds like the parents are hurting and lashing out wherever they can.

I have to agree with this. I'm sorry for their loss, but nothing is going to bring their baby back. They chose to use this seat. It doesn't sound like the seat was faulty.

Amy
 

easterbun

New member
It looks like they're sueing walmart too? WTH? Did walmart force them to buy that seat (and possibly use it wrong)? NO!
 

ThreeBeans

New member
Uh....probably not the lack of padding, but the fact that she was FF in the middle, unapproved, slots in an OHS might have had more to do with it...and if she was in an OHS seat FF in the middle slots, chances are nearing 100% that the seat was installed wrong/harness too loose/no top tether...

Not that I'm defending Cosco, or a government that allows OHS seats and seats with unreinforced middle slots or doesn't mandate top tether usage....

I hope that drunk driver rots. Dead babies make me sad :(


I was thinking the same thing. Was it an OHS or a 5 point? Was it properly installed? Was she rearfacing?
 

mominabigtruck

New member
THat's what's wrong with this country, people can't take responsibility for their actions!!:thumbsdown: I don't know why the parents would be at fault, ffing child in a seat that probably wasn't properly secured and the child was properly strapped in:rolleyes:
 

TheRealMacGyver

New member
I was thinking the same thing. Was it an OHS or a 5 point? Was it properly installed? Was she rearfacing?


It was an OHS. I would like to see how they prove/disprove a proper installation in court. If you think about it, are the police checking and documenting the install? How would they know if the harness was tight? It's a difficult thing to think about, but I think it would be interesting to see this trial. As for RFing, I haven't seen or heard anything to indicate whether it was or wasn't. Same goes for position/location. Well, you know what is bound to happen if this thing is a trial by jury. Wonder if she ever visited a seat-check before?
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
So sad. Had they gone to a seat check, I wonder if they would include the tech(s) in the lawsuit even if the parents chose to disregard the tech's hopefully best practice installation advice? Then again, Dorel and WalMart are the entities with the biggest money pots. :rolleyes: I don't mean to come across as unsympathetic because it's terrible that anyone lost a child regardless of how it happened. This case is another sad example of the state of our legal system, and the drunk driver certainly warrants a big portion of the blame and punishment.
 

momof2kiddos

New member
Well everyone pretty much stated what I thought about the carseat,but what ticks me off is some lady gets drunk,drives and kills a inncoent child and she only gets 10 years.That is just stupid.She knew when she got behind the car she was drunk and she did it anyways knowing the risks.
 

ThreeBeans

New member
Well everyone pretty much stated what I thought about the carseat,but what ticks me off is some lady gets drunk,drives and kills a inncoent child and she only gets 10 years.That is just stupid.She knew when she got behind the car she was drunk and she did it anyways knowing the risks.

Yup. I hate, hate, hate drunk drivers. They are the worst sort of selfish unprintables on the planet :mad:
 

lovinwaves

New member
Ok, a few things I noticed. It definitely was an OHS. Do the five-point version also have this "Notch" like the OHS?

1. If she was 14mths old I can't imagine her head being anywhere close to hitting this "notch" unless the forces of the crash pushed her up the seat to hit it.

2. Is this where EPS foam on the side wings comes in to play? Is this why it is so important to have?

3. The mother says (not exactly what she said but pretty close) "I urge parents to look into something before they buy it", "don't look at price, look at features, and compare side by side" This is what being an educated consumer is all about..... :confused: Research, Research, Research!! Too late momma to blame someone else for your lack of Research.

4. How does the 2001 Touriva Shell(like the one in this story) compare to the new Scenera 5-point version?

5. I dont' think anyone can blame "the Notch" for this senseless killing of a child. I think it is a combination of things between the drunk driving, maybe lack of defensive driving, lack of RF'ing (if she was), possible lack of correct installation of the CR and Harness system.
 

mamisan

New member
Wow....... You guys are making a lot of nasty assumptions about these people. Babies do die in crashes. Even properly restrained children in properly installed car seats. There was nothing in that article saying the baby was FF or had loose straps or that the parents misused the car seat. It does say that dorel knew there was a problem and didn't take steps to fix it. That's their pattern. Whether the alleged defect contributed to her death, I don't know. I'm not going to assume that but I'm also not willing to assume that because their baby died, the parents must be at fault. While Walmart is named in their lawsuit, they are not seeking monetary damages from them.

3. The mother says (not exactly what she said but pretty close) "I urge parents to look into something before they buy it", "don't look at price, look at features, and compare side by side" This is what being an educated consumer is all about..... Research, Research, Research!! Too late momma to blame someone else for your lack of Research.

And yet it is said frequently here that all carseats are safe and whichever you will use properly every time is the safest no?
 

lovinwaves

New member
Wow....... You guys are making a lot of nasty assumptions about these people. Babies do die in crashes. Even properly restrained children in properly installed car seats. There was nothing in that article saying the baby was FF or had loose straps or that the parents misused the car seat. It does say that dorel knew there was a problem and didn't take steps to fix it. That's their pattern. Whether the alleged defect contributed to her death, I don't know. I'm not going to assume that but I'm also not willing to assume that because their baby died, the parents must be at fault.

Good Points you make, but considering 9 out of 10 children are not restrained properly there is a good chance this child was not. Also, is it Dorel's fault if she wasn't? We may never know if she was or not... :(
 

lovinwaves

New member
And yet it is said frequently here that all carseats are safe and whichever you will use properly every time is the safest no?

For me personally IMO...I think the only potentially unsafe seats (even if properly installed) are the OHS. I wish they would be banned :(

Also, even though the seats are crash tested we just don't know how they will actually perform in real life crashes. Every real life crash has so many dynamics and factors that a government staged crash test can't provide or tell us. So, sometimes I think it takes crashes like this one to say "hey, this seat is unsafe.". That is why there are so many recalls.

If this mother had "Done her Research", as she is urging parents to do, then she would have found plenty of information regarding the dangers or concerns of OHS. If she were to google "Overhead Shield" she would have found right off the bat articles discussing the worries of this type of Child Restraint.
 

spokaneCPST

CPST Instructor
If this mother had "Done her Research", as she is urging parents to do, then she would have found plenty of information regarding the dangers or concerns of OHS. If she were to google "Overhead Shield" she would have found right off the bat articles discussing the worries of this type of Child Restraint.

AND if she had done her research, she would have known that REAR-FACING is much safer for a child that age and size.

Soo sad. That drunk driver deserves way more than 10 years.

Renee
 

beebear23

Senior Community Member
seriously, they are suing walmart too? Umm, okay... walmart had nothing to do w/the horrible design of it.

And yes, she should have been RF.. How sad for that poor little girl....
 

mominabigtruck

New member
Wow....... You guys are making a lot of nasty assumptions about these people. Babies do die in crashes. Even properly restrained children in properly installed car seats. There was nothing in that article saying the baby was FF or had loose straps or that the parents misused the car seat. It does say that dorel knew there was a problem and didn't take steps to fix it. That's their pattern. Whether the alleged defect contributed to her death, I don't know. I'm not going to assume that but I'm also not willing to assume that because their baby died, the parents must be at fault. While Walmart is named in their lawsuit, they are not seeking monetary damages from them.



And yet it is said frequently here that all carseats are safe and whichever you will use properly every time is the safest no?

It doesn't say that dorel knew there was a problem, what it says is that they're lawyers (the people that are suing) are saying there's a problem. Obviously they're not going to sue and try to get money out of someone and then say there's nothing wrong with the seat. I would assume though if the crash was bad enough to kill a child that was properly restrained in a working seat that the parents would either have been killed or had extensive injuries also and there's no mention of that and I wonder why?
 

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