Defective Child Car Seats

The National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that traffic collisions are the leading cause of death for children ages 5 to 14.  The NHTSA recommends that safety restraints are used for all children under 8 years of age, or a height of 4’9″.

Under California law any child under six years old weighing less than 60 pounds must be secured in a federally approved child passenger restraint system and ride in the back seat of a vehicle.

A child under the age of 6 weighing less than 60 pounds may ride in the front seat of a vehicle when:    

  • There is no rear seat or the rear seats are either side-facing jump seats or rear facing seats
  • The child passenger restraint system cannot be installed properly in the rear seat
  • All rear seats are already occupied by children under the age of 12 years.
  • A medical reason requires the child to ride in the front seat

A child may not ride in the front seat of an airbag equipped vehicle if the child:

  • Is under one year of age
  • Weighs less than 20 pounds
  • Is riding in a rear-facing child passenger restraint system

Children ages six and older but less than 16 and children under age six but who weigh more than 60 pounds, must be properly secured in an appropriate child passenger restraint system or safety belt which meets federal safety standards.

Even following the above State and Federal guidelines as outlined above, parents have witnessed serious injuries and death of their children due to defectively designed baby safety seats.  The product manufacturers who sell these dangerously defective baby safety seats need to be held accountable for the additional injuries to your and your loved one’s children resulting from these dangerously defective baby seat products.

The most common baby seat belt defective cases normally occur when:

  • Shoulder straps unclasp or slide loose during a collision resulting in partial or total ejection from the baby seat
  • The seat belt slot which holds the car seat in place is too flimsy and is unable to hold the baby safety seat in place during a collision
  • The baby safety seats are defectively designed since their is no proper pelvic protection allowing the child to slide out of the baby seat during the collision (impact)                                                                                                                                                 

If you or a loved one is involved in a serious defective child car safety seat accident:

  • Insist that a report is filed by the Police Department, California Highway Patrol or Sheriff’s Department;
  • Obtain essential information (i.e., name, address, insurance information, vehicle license number and driver license number of any and all persons involved in the accident);
  • Photograph the accident scene as well as all visible injuries;
  • Shut up!  Talk to no one about the accident or your injuries other than your attorney or doctor, never to an insurance adjuster or insurance investigator.  Do not volunteer a statement to any insurance company;
  • Sign absolutely nothing without consulting a lawyer;
  • Seek medical attention immediately and keep a diary of your child’s level of pain;
  • Keep all receipts for all medical expenses and/or funeral bills and records;
  • Be sure that the defective child car seat is kept (i.e., “preserve the evidence”) without the child car safety seat evidence you have essentially lost your case before a lawyer can even get started.  At least contact a lawyer to recover the seat and make arrangements to preserve the evidence (i.e., the car and safety seat);
  • Contact the Law Offices of Gary A Kessler an experienced law firm immediately to protect your rights and preserve the evidence!

Attorney Gary A Kessler is compassionate and fully understands what you are attempting to cope with when your young child has sustained serious injuries and/or the sorrow associated with the loss of your child.  The Law Offices of Gary A Kessler carefully selects its defective child car seat cases so that we may give you (the client) the personal attention necessary to obtain a successful outcome in your case.

In defective child car seat cases, we advance all legal costs to prepare and present our client’s claim and we receive a percentage of the settlement or verdict  of what we recover for our attorney’s fees on their behalf.  Upon settlement our costs shall be reimbursed to us from the gross recovery.  If there is no recovery, no attorney’s fees or costs are owed to our firm.  Thus, in all personal injury cases our fees are recovered as a percentage of any settlement or verdict awarded to our clients.

The Law Offices of Gary A Kessler has the successful track record and reputation for aggressively representing our clients to recover the maximum financial compensation for their losses.  Contact the Law Offices of Gary A Kessler for a free consultation regarding your or your loved ones defective child car seat case today.


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Gary Kessler, California Personal Injury Lawyer Disclaimer: The California personal injury, wrongful death, swimming pool drowning, boating accident, dog bite, amusement park negligence, pedestrian accident, product liability, aviation accidents, or any other California legal information presented at this site should not be construed to be formal legal advice, nor the creation of a lawyer or attorney client relationship. The information contained herein is intended for information purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. All results described on this site were based on the individual facts of those said cases and are not indicative of future settlements. Results will differ from case to case. Please contact Gary A. Kessler, a California lawyer at our California law firm offices in Newport Beach or our San Francisco Bay Area office.

The Law Offices of Gary A. Kessler are licensed to practice in California, District of Columbia & Pennsylvania. Through local law firms with which we have associations, we are able to represent Personal Injury and Wrongful Death cases across the United States. Our associations allow us to represent clients"pro hac vice", meaning "for this particular occasion". In order to effectively and efficiently represent the client in these cases, we will employ the local law firms (at no additional cost to our client) to make routine court appearances and proceedings where it is necessary to assist our clients case.