Car seat replacement after crash?

[ang79]

DH was hit head on by a car. More than $4000 damage to fix his 2006 Honda CRV. He drove away from the scene (after calling cops to report it) and drove home, but the radiator or something was leaking so he didn't drive it after that. We had two Britax Parkways in the back seat, but they were not secured at the time (and the kids were not in the car). The other insurance company is now saying they may not replace them because it was considered a minor crash and the side panels/doors were not hit. My concern is that they bounced around during the impact because they were not concerned. The carseats were only about 8 months old, as we had our insurance replace them last January when DH totaled his car in a snow storm (this current accident was not his fault, thank goodness!). Oh, no serious injuries from the accident. DH was having back/chest pain so he was seen at the ER but they said it was just strain from the seatbelt and impact and would go away on its own, which it did. The other car had no injuries either. Should we push to have them replaced or are they considered safe still?

[gymnbomb]

From Britax's FAQ -- based on DH needing to go to the emergency room for pain, yes that is considered an injury so it does not meet the criteria for a minor crash and the seats should be replaced.

Britax recommends that the use of a child seat be discontinued if it has been in a moderate to severe crash. We further advise of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) position that it is not necessary to replace a child seat after a minor crash.

A minor crash is one that meets ALL of following criteria:

The vehicle was able to be driven away from the crash site; AND
The vehicle door nearest the child restraint was undamaged; AND
There were no injuries to any of the vehicle occupants; AND
The air bags (if present) did not deploy; AND
There is no visible damage to the child seat.

- See more at: https://us.britax.com/faqs/after-a-c....ljTY3coi.dpuf

[ang79]

From Britax's FAQ -- based on DH needing to go to the emergency room for pain, yes that is considered an injury so it does not meet the criteria for a minor crash and the seats should be replaced.

Britax recommends that the use of a child seat be discontinued if it has been in a moderate to severe crash. We further advise of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) position that it is not necessary to replace a child seat after a minor crash.

A minor crash is one that meets ALL of following criteria:

The vehicle was able to be driven away from the crash site; AND
The vehicle door nearest the child restraint was undamaged; AND
There were no injuries to any of the vehicle occupants; AND
The air bags (if present) did not deploy; AND
There is no visible damage to the child seat.

- See more at: https://us.britax.com/faqs/after-a-c....ljTY3coi.dpuf

I did see that on Britax's website, I guess I didn't consider his trip to the ER as an injury because he wasn't really treated for anything (they gave him a script for Motrin but he didn't fill it). He was mostly concerned about the chest pain he was feeling. He actually went to the ER that night but the wait was at least 3 hours long, so he came home and then went back the following morning. So pain was not so bad that he needed to be seen imediately, but he wanted to get checked out just to be sure there wasn't any interior problems. Interestingly enough, his airbags never deployed and the police officer that responded to the crash was amazed by that. We had just had a new airbag system put in earlier this summer as his car was part of that recall Honda.

[gymnbomb]

I think any pain bad enough to be seen by a doctor qualifies as an injury.

[ang79]

The adjuster just got back to DH and got approval to pay for reimbursement of seats. New seats will be delivered from diapers.com tomorrow

[gymnbomb]

Yay!


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