Unique Accident: Replace Seats????

soccer_widow

New member
I have a friend who was in a unique accident. He was stopped at a light, and there was a truck next to him with a pulley and wrecking ball. Somehow the wrecking ball came loose, fell off the pulley, and crashed into the side of his vehicle. There were 2 kids in the car with him in a booster and some sort of harness seat. The car is totaled, but there were no injuries to the passengers.

In this scenario, would you replace the car seats?
 
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wendytthomas

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
Absolutely and without a doubt. The truck company's insurance will pay.

Even if the kids were in seats that allowed for replacement after a minor collision, a totaled car doesn't meet the minimum criteria for minor. It was totaled. It was serious. New seats for all!

Wendy
 

soccer_widow

New member
Thanks! I told them to replace the seats, but the ins. co. is being difficult(car was not in motion, wasn't moved on impact, etc) so I wanted to make sure.
 

fyrfightermomma

New member
Ive always had trouble with the word "totaled". It simply means it costs more to fix than its worth, right? So why does it have anything to do with severity or replacing seats?

For example, I totaled my first car. It was a minor fender bender that resulted in me needing a new bumper. Cost $900 to fix. Car was worth $600. So it was totaled. Had i had seats in it i would not have replaced them since it was that minor.

Get what im trying to say? Being totaled doesnt signify how bad a crash is. But technically do seats have to be replaced if its totaled? Im confused!
 

luckyclov

New member
It doesn't matter if the vehicle was in motion or not. There was a crash. The wrecking ball crashed into the side of the vehicle. It's still a side impact accident. There was probably a child seat on the side of impact. It did enough damage where the vehicle is not going to be repaired.

I agree, definitely, for sure, all seats inside need to be replaced.
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
Ive always had trouble with the word "totaled". It simply means it costs more to fix than its worth, right? So why does it have anything to do with severity or replacing seats?

For example, I totaled my first car. It was a minor fender bender that resulted in me needing a new bumper. Cost $900 to fix. Car was worth $600. So it was totaled. Had i had seats in it i would not have replaced them since it was that minor.

Get what im trying to say? Being totaled doesnt signify how bad a crash is. But technically do seats have to be replaced if its totaled? Im confused!

I hear you. :) While many people do use the term totaled to mean utterly damaged/destroyed beyond any ability to repair, in car insurance lingo the term refers to the estimated post-crash repair cost being over a certain % of the vehicle's overall value. For an older/ depreciated vehicle, something relatively minor as a damaged fender or a bumper replacement can cost more than the vehicle's overall value as you've noted, and the vehicle is deemed totaled. But being totaled in the insurance sense of the word isn't a crashed carseat replacement criteria. Being in a crash at all is the criteria for replacement for most carseat manufacturers, and the few carseat manufacturers/models that follow the NHTSA checklist criteria at http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/childps/childrestraints/reuse/restraintreuse.htm to replace after a moderate or severe crash don't use being totaled as a determining factor.
 
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Mom2FiveGirls

Active member
What seats were they? Most manufacturers say to replace after any crash...and it definitely sounds like this was a crash, regardless of the fact that the vehicles weren't moving. The wrecking ball crashed into their car.
 

agave

New member
This sounds a lot like something that would happen to my dad. He's been run over by a propane truck and rear ended by a boat while stopped at a light. I was stopped when I got hit last year and no one questioned replacing the seats, it was a pretty minor accident the kids didn't even know anything was wrong.
 

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