Also, I'm not aware of child restraint manufacturers being held liable for owner's misuse? I'm not saying it hasn't happened, but I'm not aware of it.
Frankly, (again, feeling cynical today--and sick), a parent who blindly accepts the car salesman's "expertise" on child restraints is likely to be a parent who also has several other installation/usage errors...:duck:
If a seat fails in a crash, even if there is some misuse by the owner (I assume not gross misuse) and a child dies or is severely injured the chances are high that the company is going to have to lay out some cash in a lawsuit.
Yes, I agree all parents need to take responsibility. Yes, it is our responsibility to care for our own children. But, people don't. As an advocate of child safety I think it is also my duty to make sure other children are safe. My feeling is that we are going to make a much greater difference if we can cut some of these large sources of misinformation at the root. The children in my care are safe. It's all those other children out there that worry me.
And, obviously it's not just car manufacturers and dealers. I think the best thing to do would be to require a mini CPS training course that goes along with birthing classes. It wouldn't solve all the problems, but it sure would solve a great deal of them.
It is my feeling that some parents are negligent by choice, but it is also my feeling that many parents are negligent because information is not given to them. (I think showing the RF crash tests in a birthing class would make a huge difference). I never knew of RF after 1 year or harnessing children after 40 pounds until I came to this board. It wasn't that I was negligent, it's just that it didn't even occur to me.
I guess, to make a long story short, we aren't going to change parents who choose to be negligent, but those that try to do the best for their children and are given faulty information are really affected. I know in theory everyone should research car safety on their own, but this is not the reality and it's the reality, not the theory that we have to switch. Essentially we have three sets of parents 1) intentionally negligent 2) negligent because of a lack of information or misinformation 3) those that are on their game and research everything for themselves.
We fall under the third category while the majority of parents fall under the first two
Sorry...I'm ranting
Really, I just wish I was superwoman and could change the world with a snap of my fingers.