Diono replacement confusion

A friend was rear ended today. Her son was rearfacing in his Radian and is fine. I suggested that she needs to replace her seat since the manual says to replace after any collision.

However, she called and was told to replace after any accident and then was quoted the NHSTA guidelines. I told her I thought that was weird and mused that I wondered if she would get the same response if she spoke with a different representative.

So, she emailed them and got this response-

Hi: We recommend you replace your car seat once it has been involved in an accident. As stated in our manual on page 7 " Do not use restraint after is has been involved in any accident. Damage to the restraint may have occurred which could impair its ability to adequately protect a child."

To determine if your car seat needs to be replaced we recommend using the following NHTSA criteria. NHTSA's recommendation that replacement is unnecessary after a "minor" crash. A crash is considered to be minor and the child seat involved in it is safe for reuse if it meets ALL of the following criteria:

A visual inspection of the child safety seat, including inspection under any easily movable seat padding, does not reveal cracks or deformation that might have been caused by the crash;
The vehicle in which the child safety seat was installed was capable of being driven from the scene of the crash;
The vehicle door nearest the child safety seat was undamaged;
There were no injuries to any of the vehicle occupants;
The air bags (if any) did not deploy.

If you feel your accident met the above criteria than you should not need to replace your car seat. However if you have doubts about the safety of your car seat than it is always better to err on the side of caution and replace the car seat.

Best regards, Kristin



I find this quite confusing and contradictory and she agrees. She said she even said to the lady that her crash didn't meet the requirements for replacements but the lady didn't say clearly that she should replace or not.


What are your thoughts?

Well, that's crappy doublespeak on their part.

Maybe email Alana? If an insurance claim is being made I'd absolutely replace.

My car has been hit countless times. The next day, my neck *always* hurts, usually my back, arm...That counts as an injury. So, tell her to wait until the next day, when she has a sore neck and/or head ache which counts as an injury and then add the car seats to the insurance claim under the NHSTA guidelines. I was quoted those guidelines from Diono a few years ago when I spoke to someone there after a crash.

Now, if we're talking about a tiny bump that did no damage to the car, then her neck won't hurt the next day and it's a different story.

Personally, if I make an insurance claim, I replace my seats. If there is any chance of damage, I'm not willing to risk my kid's lives over it...

tam

Her insurance handed her a check for the seat today when she dropped off the car to be appraised/fixed, so it's now a moot point for her.

But for future reference- follow the manual or listen to customer service? Has anyone had any clarification on why they say one thing in the manual and a different thing is said on the phone/ in email? If they truly follow NHSTA guidelines, why not put it in the manual like other manufacturers?

That doesn't seem like double talk to me. They are saying to replace after any "crash". I take it to mean they are talking about real crashes not just the bumbs and swipes. They are saying to use the NHTSA criteria to determine if it really counts as a crash. They also added to err on the side of caution. For the first time ever, I really have respect for something that Diono has said/written.

cso1997 said:

That doesn't seem like double talk to me. They are saying to replace after any "crash". I take it to mean they are talking about real crashes not just the bumbs and swipes. They are saying to use the NHTSA criteria to determine if it really counts as a crash. They also added to err on the side of caution. For the first time ever, I really have respect for something that Diono has said/written.

Click to expand...

I kind of agree, but they need to word it differently. They're saying "Replace after any crash, and here's the definition of a not-crash," only that's not the definition of a not-crash--it's the definition of a minor crash.

If they want to say, "Replace after any crash that doesn't meet these criteria," that's fine, but then they can't say "replace after ANY crash," because there are plenty of collisions--even ones that require insurance claims--that don't result in injuries, air bags, etc.

They also need to clarify the manual and/or customer service instructions if they're going to contradict each other or not be clear.

cso1997 said:

That doesn't seem like double talk to me. They are saying to replace after any "crash". I take it to mean they are talking about real crashes not just the bumbs and swipes. They are saying to use the NHTSA criteria to determine if it really counts as a crash. They also added to err on the side of caution. For the first time ever, I really have respect for something that Diono has said/written.

Click to expand...

This. I got the same response a couple of years ago. I decided to replace.