replace non occupied seat after accident?

[evergreenmom]

I was in a fairly minor rear ending accident last week. The damage to my car is Estimated to be around $700. I was injured and have whip lash and low back pain and am filing an injury claim and seeing a chiropractor. My son was in his car seat (evenflo triumph advance) and was not injured and my daughter's car seat (graco nautilus) was in the car but she was not.

When I initially spoke with my insurer they indicated that they would likely pay for both seats to be replaced however today the estimator claimed they only had to replace the seat that was in use at the time of the accident. I have done a few online searches that seem to indicate that the manufacturers recommend a new seat after any accident but they don't specify regarding if the seat was not occupied. I am looking for firm proof that they do need to replace both seats or if it is safe to keep using my daughters seat then I would like firm proof to satisfy my concern.

Thanks so much for your help and this forum!!

 

[EmmaCPST]

They both absolutely need to be replaced. Even un-occupied, force was still applied to the seat and it may not react properly to the same or additional force applied if you were to get in another accident.

Plus, both car seat manuals will state their seat needs to be replaced after any accident, AND your crash meets NHTSA's criteria for replacing seats as well. So definitely make sure your insurance company replaces them. If they balk, call Graco and ask them to send you something, I'm sure they will.

Glad you and your fam are mostly ok - I hope your injuries heal quickly!

 

[LISmama810]

Here are NHTSA's guidelines: http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/childps/childrestraints/reuse/restraintreuse.htm

They recommend replacing seats after any crash that doesn't meet their "minor crash" criteria. Since you were hurt, it was not a minor crash, and therefore your seats need to be replaced.

Most car seats (in their manuals) state that the seat should be replaced after ANY crash. A few defer to NHTSA guidelines, but again, yours should be replaced according to those anyway.

I would send the adjuster the info from that link and the applicable part of your seat's manual.

 

[evergreenmom]

Thanks so much- you all are awesome!

After doing some more research here and checking my manuals I called the insurance estimator again and stuck to my guns and shared the info I had found and he backed down and agreed to make sure both seats were replaced. He told me to go ahead and buy new seats (comparable in price) and bring him receipts and also bring him my old seats for him to destroy- he said he would cut the harnesses in front of me so that I would know it had been taken care of...

Now I just need to decide which ones... maybe the Britax frontier for DD...

Not sure yet about DS- would love to keep him RF for a little while longer....