Car Seat Replacement Question

I also posted this in the car seat forum, but I think this board has more traffic. So, we got in a fender bender the other day. My neighbor and I were backing out at the same time and bumped one another very slightly. The boys were both in their Recaro Vivos at the time, and the youngest was sleeping (and slept through it). His car has no damage and my car has a dent in the bumper. The car didn't move much at all no more then when comming to a hard stop at a light. We decided were both at fault, and are not going to bother reporting to insurance company because it doesn't cost much to fix. I am really hoping that they don't need to be repaced because it's not it the budget right not. What do you think?





I checked the manual and it says "If a child restraint has been occupied in a crash or vehicle accident it must be replaced; do NOT use the child restraint again. A crash can cause unseen damage and using it again can cause serious injury or death." and "If the vivo has been in the vehicle during a crash and no air bags were deployed, it does not need to be repaced." So does that mean because they were occupied they have to be replaced no matter what or because the air bags didn't deploy there ok. I took the covers off and see no damage or any marks. I really don't think they moved very much if at all.

i'm NOT a tech but i was pulling into a parking space a while back and there was a concreate piller thing in front of the spot and i bumped into it and it felt like what you said and i didnt worry about the seat. i would think that when you're backing out you probably wouldnt even be pressing on the gas so personally i would not worry about it. :twocents:

That amount of damage looks like more than a slight bump to me. From your description of the "bump" I was expecting something like a dent the size of a half dollar. Obviously, it is your call, but I'd probably replace.

I am not a tech, but if there were that much damage to my car I would replace (or rather have my insurance replace).

I'm not a tech either, so I can't give you the official word. I just know that I, personally would probably not replace the seats. DH once hit a cement pillar in a parking garage. . he was going very slowly (5mph) and there was hardly a jolt. but I could not believe how much damage their was! The whole panel was fiberglass and just dented/shredded on contact, making the accident look far worse than it was.

So, I guess it depends on the car, but it looks like the bumpers here are fiberglass and it's possible they reacted the same way my DHs vehicle did.

yeah i have a dent in the bumper of my accord that looks worse than that one and its from when a guy litteraly rolled into me when i was prego with Connor, i almost didnt realize i had been hit but the dent made it look way worse. so just saying that its hard to judge a crash but what a bumper looks like

i do want to say that i'm not suggesting using seats that have been in accidents or anything like that, just that in the case of something that sounds like it was that minor, i would probably be ok with still using the seat. oh course that decision has to be left up to the OP, who is hte only one that really knows how bad it was.