New regulations for child safety seats coming soon

The National Highway Safety Administration recently announced that new regulations for child car safety seats will go into effect in February 2014. The new rule applies to weight limits for car seats in how they can be secured in a vehicle.

Essentially, the regulations will change as to how weight limits will be calculated as they apply to latch anchors in vehicles. Most vehicles have anchors that will safety hold a seat weighing up to 65 pounds. The new regulations require that car seat manufacturers consider the weight of the seat and the child in advertising weight limits for safety using anchor latches.

Because of this, many child safety seats may have to be secured by using a car’s seatbelts as opposed to latches.

This may cause some concern with many parents, as they may not know how much their seat weighs. It may also cause calls to manufacturers (as well as possible recalls) to address potential defects. In either instance, we find this revelation important because of the potential legal issues that can arise if a particular seat is deemed defective if it does not meet the updated guidelines, especially if a car seat owner is not made aware of the regulation changes and a child is injured.

Car seat manufacturers have a duty to issue recalls if it is found that a product has potential defects that can harm a consumer. If they fail to so, and a child is hurt by a seat that should have been recalled, the manufacturer could be held liable. If you have questions about child seat recalls, an experienced personal injury attorney can help.

Source: 9WSYR.com, “New regulations set for child car seats; set to go in effect in February 2014,” December 2, 2013