Articles Posted in Defective Child Car Seats

One of the main arguments product and auto manufacturers make in product liability cases is that their product “complies with federal safety standards.” This article in the New York Times tells the tale of how the recall of more than 1 million defective Evenflo Discovery car seats came about. It’s frightening to see that government officials discovered, quite by accident, that this brand of car seats did nothing to protect infants in a side impact crash.

That’s why the government insisted on a recall despite the fact that there is no standard that specifies how well such seats must protect children in a side impact auto accident. Apparently, this type of a recall is unprecedented. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), as it turned out, was working on developing side-impact regulations and was conducting some tests as part of that research.

That’s when they saw to their utter horror that when a ram struck the vehicle’s side at 38.5 miles an hour, the portion of the seat in which the infant would be strapped, broke free of the base and was thrown around in the interior. Federal officials described the failure as “catastrophic” and immediately asked Evenflo to recall and stop production of these car seats, which the car seat maker did.
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Evenflo is reportedly recalling about 1 million defective infant safety car seats because they could result in serious injury or death in a collision. According to an article in watchdog Web site Consumeraffairs.com, the models covered by the recall are 390, 391, 534 and 552 Discovery car seat and travel system, made between April 2005 and January 2008.

According to reports, recent tests conducted by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration show that these car seats could break apart and separate from the base during high-impact side collisions. Evenflo officials have said they will provide a free supplemental dual-hook fastener to make sure that the seat remains attached to its base during a high impact crash. More details about this recall are available at www.evenflo.com/discovery or visit NHTSA’s Web site at www.safecar.gov.

This recall, one of several involving this particular brand of car seats, comes in the wake of an announcement by the NHTSA that it has revised consumer rating systems by introducing a five-star rating system for child safety seats. The federal agency has a similar rating program for vehicles.
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When we strap our babies into car seats, we do so with the promise that if something bad happens on the road, the car seat will protect our little ones from harm. But what happens when these car seats that are meant to protect our infants add to the danger? What happens when a car seat contributes to your child’s injuries making it more serious – even fatal?

That’s exactly what happened to Chad and Jessica Malcolm, whose 4-month-old son Tyler died after a July 2000 rollover crash. Tyler was snugly buckled into an Evenflo “On My Way” brand car seat. But when the vehicle rolled over, little Tyler hit his head on the car seat’s hard plastic shell after the car seat was ejected. How did the infant car seat get ejected? Because a hook broke loose from the seat and there was evidence of the same defect in five other incidents that resulted in serious injuries to the babies.

Last week, a jury awarded $10.4 million to the grieving couple – including $6.7 million in compensatory damages, $3.7 million in punitive damages, according to an Associated Press news report posted in the Arizona Star’s Web site. This certainly is not the only failure of Evenflo child car seats. They have lost at least three other cases over their car seats, the damages adding up to $19.6 million. I have no idea how many other cases they have settled.

To me, the most aggravating fact of this case is that the car seat manufacturer had originally considered lining the hard shell of the car seats in question with foam. But later they decided against it. I can sum up the reason for that decision in one word – profits. I bet that was the reason they decided to go with the cheaper hard shell. To a manufacturer, that car seat is another finished item off the production line. It’s a serial number. It’s part of an inventory. To us, it’s a protective shield for those little people we treasure the most – our precious children.
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