Car seat replacement after accident??

ilovemarfa

I was rear ended today in the grocery store parking lot. I pulled into a spot and some guy pulled in behind me as I was getting out of my car and hit me. There was a good amount of damage done to the front end of his car and some minor to my back bumper but it was a pretty strong impact as the guy claims his car automatically accelerated as he hit the brake. Thankfully the kids weren't with me as things could have been pretty bad had I been getting them out as he hit my car.

At any rate should I replace the car seats?? Has anybody ever been rear ended like this and replace them?? The car seats we have are britax pavilions (2 of them) and they are $300+. That's a huge expense!

Lizzybizzy80

Will his insurance or yours cover it? I think this happened to someone else on the board.

ilovemarfa

I tried looking but I didn't find any posts. My mobile bump is messed up.

bumpuser7846882

Lizzybizzy80 said:

Will his insurance or yours cover it? I think this happened to someone else on the board.

That's what I was going to ask. For some reason I think that seats can be replaced by insurance.

ColieAnn31

When A was in an accident back in January we didn't have any problems getting the insurance company to reimburse us for a new car seat. The guys insurance is who took care of the car seat. But our car was totaled in that accident and the guys insurance wanted us to leave the old car seat in the totaled car so they could dispose of it themselves.

ilovemarfa

The manual said that there is no need to replace them if you are in a minor crash. I'm assuming this is considered minor since the airbags didn't deploy.

ColieAnn31

Our airbags didn't deploy but our car was still totaled. I was call the car seat manufacturer and tell them what happened and they'll be able to tell you if you should replace them our not. Replacing a car seat is no fun.

momofcatan

Sounds like you don't need to replace. Here is the definition of a minor accident. https://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/childps/childrestraints/reuse/restraintreuse.htm You are lucky, some seats say replavpce aft any accident.

ilovemarfa

Thanks all! I'm just really thankful I didn't have the boys. The force that he hit my car actually pushed my big SUV forward quite a bit. Had I been unloading them they could have gotten injured. I'm now really paranoid about parking lots. I'll be parking away from all cars in the future.

ilovemarfa

His car.

ASmallWonder

Britax is different from most seats.  They follow NHTSA guidelines for minor accidents:

• The vehicle was able to be driven away from the crash site;

• The vehicle door nearest the safety seat was undamaged;

• There were no injuries to any of the vehicle occupants;

• The air bags (if present) did not deploy; AND

• There is no visible damage to the safety seat

It sounds like you're good to keep using these seats but a couple things to remember.  One is that since you were hit, it would be his insurance that would pay to replace them. Two, the above criteria is only good one time.  If your seats are involved in another accident, even one that meets the above criteria, they need to be replaced.  For that reason, make sure you have documentation that your seats were involved in this accident.  If you are ever hit again and it's minor, that person's insurance may decline to replace them but it's possible if you can show prior documentation that they'd replace.

Nix55

I'm not an expert, but I personally wouldn't replace them. It sounds like the accident was very minor...and that you have an SUV which can withstand more impact than a smaller vehicle.

ASmallWonder

Nix55 said:

I'm not an expert, but I personally wouldn't replace them. It sounds like the accident was very minor...and that you have an SUV which can withstand more impact than a smaller vehicle.

Just know that only Britax and a few others would legally and safely allow her to keep using the seats.  The latch straps and belt path take a lot more force than any visual damage would show.  Kind of like bungee cords.  The person may not hit the ground but the force exerted is pretty extreme and limits how effective the seat can be if it happens again.

Nix55

Good to know @elmoali. I was hesitant to comment on the post since I don't have a lot of knowledge on the subject other than what defines a minor crash. Thanks for the additional info.

ASmallWonder

@anw39‌ it's not all seats. Britax follows different guidelines. I'm 100% sure

ilovemarfa

Thanks everybody! I wasn't looking forward to spending close to $600 for replacements so I'm glad that I can still use them safely. Ds2's is a newer model and it has a feature on it where if a strap on the back is broken during a collision, it means it needs to be replaced.

ColieAnn31

@ilovemarfa‌ that's a cool feature!