There is so much information out there about car seat safety that you would think you know it all. But that is just not true and I would be willing to bet that the average person doesn’t know that after an accident you need to throw out your car seat. Shocker right? Let me tell you how I learned about this.
In the fall I was visiting family out of town and I was involved in a fender bender. It was scary because it was my first time in a accident and both of my girls were in the car. I was pretty shaken up and all I could think about was my girls. But in the end, it was just a small fender bender and all ended up being okay. Just a little damage on my car and the other persons car.
After I got back into town I called my auto insurance agent to get the claims process started. The insurance representative had a million and one questions to ask me. They all seemed routine but tedious. I was of course, making my to-do lists and folding laundry while she asked me all these questions. Come one, what mom doesn’t multi-task. Haha.
Next question she asked me was if I had any children in carseats in the car at the time of the accident. Both of my girls are still in car seats, so my answer was yes. Suddenly, I was more interested in the conversation. She went on to explain that I would need to get rid of my carseats because there is no way to know if they had been damaged. I had to cut the straps that connect them to the car and throw them away. Wow! Luckily, replacements were full reimbursable through my insurance.
That was a shocker. I consider myself pretty knowledgable about kid and carseat safety, but I had never heard of this. How did I miss this information? I started asking around, no one in my immediate circle had heard of this either. I then started to wonder how many people got into accidents and never knew to get rid of their car seats.
Spread the word! Get rid of your car seats if you’re in a accident! When it comes to our children’s safety, it is always better to be safe than sorry!!