Should I be replacing these seats? (accident related)

[Kristy00]

I was just reading through some older posts on here, and I found that transport Canada recommends replacing all seats no matter how minor the accident. I did not know this!

We were in a minor accident (DH backed the van into his truck at about 10 km/h), and I didn't even think of replacing the seats because it was so minor...should I be trying to replace them now? The accident was over a year ago and we no longer have that van - and we never followed through on the claim because there was minimal damage to the van and a major accident happened with the truck a few weeks later. Can I even claim anything now? Really, how unsafe are my seats? I do not want to jeopardize my kids safety but there is no way I can afford to buy 3 new seats.

 

[AnnD]

I was the one with all the posts re minor accidents - and still pretty surprised by Transport Canada's zero tolerance policy. (The NHSTA is much more relaxed about its policy - for better or worse - funnily, their policy is based on a study by the BC Insurance Institute ... I digress).

What I have learned ... low-impact crash is less than 15km/h. I would imagine, your dh was going a lot slower but not sure that makes a difference to Transport Canada. California passed a ruling/law (based on googling so I could be wrong) to have a similar rule as Canada. The anti-switch up the car seat people argument in the short article I read was that if you 'backed into a post in a grocery shopping mall', the law allowed for the car seats to be replaced (in California, if the car seat was occupied, so again still a bit different) - perhaps ridiculous, perhaps not. No regulator was going to vote against - the liability of a 'what-if' scenario is way too high.

So ... based on what I learned and my 'minor' crash, I would say if he was going 10km/h, and especially if a door was damaged by a carseat, you should replace your car seats, in particular by that door, if not all them.

On to the insurance claim - I can only imagine it hurting you to make a claim since you are both the party at fault and the party 'injured'. It will ding up your insurance by much much more than the cost of your seats. When I spoke to my insurance company, since I wasn't at fault (even under no fault insurance), I don't have a deductible. If I was at fault, I would have a $500 deductible. Obviously, my $1000 worth of four carseats is above that but it still wouldn't be worth the claim as I would more than pay for that in higher premiums.

Good luck with your decision.

We did replace all four (so much fun I have to admit - and lots of great help from the ladies here) car seats and would have regardless of the at fault once I learned the rules. I am almost completely certain my car seats are fine, and truly believe the Transport Canada policy is over the top ... but I can't replace my kiddos. So three Britax car seats (and a Graco I never liked) hit the trash, all straps removed, covers in a separate bag on Tuesday (our garbage day).

 

[keri1292]

...covers in a separate bag on Tuesday (our garbage day).

You trashed your covers?!?!?!

 

[AnnD]

Haven't trashed them yet. The guy who hit us might come get the seats (I will make sure they aren't usable)

I will probably keep one if I can - I still have one other Marathon.

 

[snowbird25ca]

Please note that I've edited one post and deleted a couple of posts on this thread that were related to swap.

This announcement has information about swap and access to it. I realize that the posts and comments in this thread were made innocently, but please do read the link for future reference. Canadians and international members have access to swap in the same way as everyone else, although you may want to check with the person you're swapping with to make sure they know you're from Canada when it comes to shipping.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=38149

 

[Kristy00]

So ... based on what I learned and my 'minor' crash, I would say if he was going 10km/h, and especially if a door was damaged by a carseat, you should replace your car seats, in particular by that door, if not all them.

On to the insurance claim - I can only imagine it hurting you to make a claim since you are both the party at fault and the party 'injured'. It will ding up your insurance by much much more than the cost of your seats. When I spoke to my insurance company, since I wasn't at fault (even under no fault insurance), I don't have a deductible. If I was at fault, I would have a $500 deductible. Obviously, my $1000 worth of four carseats is above that but it still wouldn't be worth the claim as I would more than pay for that in higher premiums.

Technically only DH made a claim to his truck - I never did as the only damage to the van was a small scratch and a broken tail light. I guess I have to look at the cost of my insurance deductible. Like I said, I can not afford to replace two carseats and buy a new one for the new baby. If it is not worth it to go through insurance, I guess the kids just aren't going anywhere for a while.