Should I say anything more?

THANKS for all the help!! I'll start a new thread if anything interesting happens.

Edited: just in case. wink

I wonder if she is perhaps woefully uneducated?

Well, TC does say to replace, and the instructor manual instructs us to tell parents to advise according to that and manufacturer instructions.

So I think that it's worth telling her that you're confused and ask for clarification as to what she meant. If her clarification is reuse, then I'd make the educated decision that she doesn't know what she's talking about. If her clarification is it's ok to reuse a Britax and nothing else, then she's following manufacturer's instructions and I probably wouldn't push it any further.

I can understand your doubts. And I will say that the seat protectors thing does bother me because I do consider that to be a pretty big one considering all the seat protectors I see are the prince lionheart thick ones. :thumbsdown:

Again, instructor manual recommends against all after market products.

But I'm not sure if it's worth pushing or not with her being your go-to person. I don't know exactly what the balance is here of trying to get accurate information without burning bridges. It sounds like she needs some updating, but the structure here is different than the structure in the US so it's not that easy - and I can't say I even know the procedure for that...

Thanks! I think for now I will leave it. I don't want to make her and other people upset just from asking some questions. I guess *I* know better and the most I can do at this point is to instruct parents to follow their manufacturers, and not to use third party products.

I think that she is fairly new to this post, she is just recently pregnant for the first time and so maybe doesn't quite realize how putting other peoples children at risk (no matter how small the risk) is unacceptable. Maybe she's confused herself about the procedure.. I don't know. I guess maybe she won't be as much of the go-to person that I had hoped.

Luckily I have carseat.org .... ;-)

I think she is unfortunately letting her confuse her to the wrong side of things.

Yes, nhtsa sets the rules and guidelines and the manufacturers do need to have one rule for all seats.

However, we have to keep with the firm stance that even nhtsa would say... don't go against manufacturer instructions.

So... is the seat likely fine to use.... yes.

Should you use it?.... NO... because the manufacturer says no.

Why??

Because, if you use it against manufacturer guidelines, get in another crash or multiple crashes (continuing to use it after each minor crash), and the seat FAILS... the manufacturer would be completely and totally in the clear.

The court would not care that the NHTSA says that, because they don't have the control to change the manual... they don't make the seat.

That's why I phrased it "likely" safe to use... not definitely. Definitely only applies to where NHTSA AND the manufacturer agree on the safety... and only Britax does this.

I'm guessing the reason they do this is because they saw the results, did their OWN testing... and found the same was true for the seats in their test results. What is most likely true is that the other manufacturers are doing exactly what we tell people as to why they shouldn't do things against the manual (using latch in booster mode on seats not approved, using latch AND the seatbelt, adding aftermarket products, etc.)... it hasn't been tested that way.... which means you don't know how it will perform.

It would mean making a live child a human crash test dummy.

I would flat out ask my insurance company... are you telling me to give up manufacturer liability and let my child be a human crash test dummy? Because that is basically what they are doing.

Since they are resistant, I would also contact the NHTSA about their stance... my guess and assumation is that they will say that while they say _____ about a seat after a minor crash, that you should always follow the guidelines set by the manufacturer. Have them send it to you in writing for your insurance provider.

I highly doubt they would defy a federal government run body of research and knowledge.

Thanks so much Kat! I didn't even think to contact NHTSA... thats a great idea.

So far my insurance provider just emailed me to let me know that their information is current and that they will NOT cover another seat because according to them my seat is safe for use.. SIGH

Which I want in WRITING from them. I spoke to a few other techs today at a clinic and they agreed that I should NOT use the seat and that SGI (insurance) is being weird about this and giving bad/poor information to those who have been in accidents.

I feel better for not just blindly following them (again) because I really put my child at risk and would never do that again, just so that they can save a few dollars.