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AFTER AN ACCIDENT |
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After an Accident
In the event of an accident the car seat is exposed to a number of factors that will reduce the quality of the car seat. Some of these factors cannot be seen by the naked eye, and could be fatal if the seat is used following an accident.
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It pays to check with your insurance company if they cover child restraints as part of your policy. Could you afford to buy a new seat after an accident if your policy does not cover car seats?
Most child restraint manufacturers recommend replacing a child restraint after any accident, no matter how big or small, especially if the seat was occupied, or there was damage to the chassis of the car.
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- A broken seat shell anywhere on the seat
- Torn or fraying harness webbing anywhere on the seat
- Glass shards on the seat, under the cover and in small gaps
- Stress marks anywhere on the seat shell, these look like the marks a twisted milk or fizzy bottle get.
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Serious crashes include accidents where
- There is structural damage to the vehicle
- The vehicle rolled
- The vehicle collided with another vehicle or object at high speed
- The airbags deployed
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Meet ALL of the following criteria:
- 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
Source: NHTSA
- It is best in any situation to replace the car seat once it has been involved in an accident.
- There are no checks available here in NZ or AU to test the seat.
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Take your accident restraint to Plunket for safe disposal. These seats are taken to the dump where they are crushed with a steam roller to prevent them from being reused. You can keep the original cover if you wish, do not however salvage any other parts off the seat.
If you do not have access to Plunket, you can dispose of your car seat using inorganic collection, or taking it to the dump yourself. Please note the following:
Always destroy a car seat that you are dumping
- Remove the cover
- Cut the harness
- Destroy the plastic shell
- Write over the seat "Not safe for use in a vehicle" if you are not able to destroy the shell - please note that people may still try to use the seat shell, this is why we advise that you destroy it using a sledge hammer or similar.