If you believe a defective safety seat failed to protect your child in a car accident, you have the right to take legal action and recover compensation for the injury your child sustained. Our compassionate and knowledgeable attorney can provide you with the answers and legal advice you need.
Case EvaluationFor children between the ages of 1 and 13, car accidents are a leading cause of death. On average, 2 children under 13 are killed in Miami alone every year and 319 are injured every day while riding in vehicles throughout Florida. Most of these car accidents and injuries occur among children traveling as passengers.
Restraining children properly in a vehicle’s back seat can reduce fatalities and injuries by 71% for infants and 54% for toddlers. However, many of the car seats and seat belts used to protect children are, in fact, defective products. Accordingly, they are likely to fail to protect the child in the unfortunate event of a car accident.
There are numerous reasons why defects in the manufacturing of child safety seats take place. However, while not bothersome under normal circumstances, manufacturing defects in child safety seats may prove fatal in the unfortunate event of a car accident. It is often after a car accident that certain child safety seats are recalled since their defectiveness had not been noticed until then.
Here are only some of the problems which can occur in child safety seats:
Many times, performance criteria established by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard are not met, whether it comes to newborn and toddler seats or booster seats, which exposes your child to dangerous and even life-threatening situations in the case of a car accident. However, child safety seat manufacturers are very difficult to deal with, as they often blame parents for not following the installation instructions and safety guidelines after they bought the product. As a product liability attorney, Sean M. Cleary has over 20 years of professional experience and will gladly offer you legal assistance if your child was injured by a defective safety seat.
The most recent child safety seats recall include the following:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is the agency that issues the regulations of child safety car seats. However, the testing is done by the manufacturer. These companies usually perform only the minimal testing required, which thereby causes numerous defects to go unnoticed. Additionally, child safety seat manufacturers must report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration only if their products fall within the agency’s loose requirements.
If your child was injured following a car accident and the safety seat failed to protect them, do not hesitate to reach out to our attorney. Our experts will carefully assess the safety seat and let you know if it was indeed defective. Any car seat manufacturer may have a defective product or a defective line of recalled car seats, such as:
Nothing is more important to a parent than the well-being of their child. When a safety seat is defective, it can result in your child suffering more severe injuries than they would have if the seat was functioning properly in the regrettable event of a car accident. It is worthy of note that injuries have a particularly serious impact on children because of their skeletal development. Therefore, infants and children may suffer the following:
If your child was injured in a car accident by a defective safety seat, you may have a case against the manufacturer, supplier, distributor, or even the retailer if they:
If you followed the Florida child restraints and seat belt laws below and did your best to install the seat, yet after a car accident, your child was injured, please call our law firm. The accident experts we collaborate with will reconstruct the car accident and let you know if you have a case.
Here are the Florida laws regarding child safety seats:
While taking legal action in such a case is usually challenging, as manufacturers will always invoke the negligence of the parents in using the product, we can help you. Sean Cleary will fight for parents whose children suffered injuries that could have been prevented. With over 20 years of experience, our product liability attorney and our team of legal specialists have handled a wide range of defective child safety seat cases. We are always ready to listen and offer emotional support through constantly communicating with you and your family members. If your child was injured by a defective safety seat in a car accident or, even more tragic, lost their life, please reach out to us and we will strive to recover the compensation you need from the negligent party.