Child Safety Seats Recalled for Defective Straps

Car seat manufacturer Combi USA is issuing a defective product recall for about 33,000 safety seats due to restraining straps that could break during a car accident. According to a report in The New York Times, the recall comes after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) rejected Combi’s request that it be excused from the recall because the failure to meet the federal safety standard with regard to the car seats did not have anything to do with motor vehicle safety.

Straps on Seats Could Fail
Included in this recall are Model 8220 Coccoro seats manufactured from January 2009 to December 2012; Model 8815 Zeus Turn seats built from July 2007 to March 2009 and Model 8336 Zeus 360 seats built from February 2009 to May 2012. Child car seat manufacturers are required to follow several motor vehicle safety standards. They must do their own testing and obtain certification that those federal standards have been met. NHTSA then follows up by conducting spot checks and performing its own testing.
The strap failures in these car seats were detected during one such NHTSA check in 2012. When the straps failed during the testing, NHTSA contacted Combi USA about issuing the safety recall. The company argued that it had received no reports of strap failures from users and that its own testing showed that the straps were strong enough to withstand a real-world crash. The federal agency, however, rejected Combi’s arguments and handed down its mandate for a recall.
Young Children and Car Accidents
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the United States during 2010, more than 1,200 children ages 14 years and younger died in car accidents as vehicle occupants and about 171,000 were injured. A CDC study also found that annually more than 618,000 children ages 0-12 rode in vehicles as passengers without the use of a child safety seat or booster seat or a seat belt at least some of the time. Child safety seats have been proven to reduce the risk of death in passenger cars by 71 percent for infants and by 54 percent for toddlers 1 to 4 years of age. Booster seats reduce the risk of serious injury by 45 percent for children ages 4 to 8.
Product Liability
When a defective product such as a child safety seat, which is supposed to protect children during crashes, ends up causing injuries, the manufacturer of the defective product can be held liable for the damages. Injured victims can seek compensation for medical expenses, hospitalization, rehabilitation, permanent injuries, disabilities, past and future pain and suffering, etc. Families of deceased victims can also seek damages by filing a wrongful death claim.
If you or a loved one has been injured or if you have lost a loved one as a result of a defective product, the experienced personal injury lawyer at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options. Our skilled car accident attorneys have a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury cases in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
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Source: The New York Times