A child safety seat is used to protect a child from harm in the event of a motor-vehicle crash, which is why many Chicago-area parents put them in their vehicles. Unfortunately, sometimes car seats suffer the same fate as other products that are found to be defective and are recalled.

Most recently, almost 3.8 million car seats made by Graco Children’s Products Inc. have been recalled because their buckles may not unlatch, posing a hazard to a child during an emergency. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says Graco should recall another 1.8 million rear-facing infant car seats because this product shares the same type of buckle as the recalled child safety seat.

The product recall affects 11 models of car seats sold by Graco from 2009 to 2013. Federal safety regulators point out that the defect could make it hard for a parent or others to remove a child from the seat during a fire or after an accident, increasing the risks of injury. The NHTSA points out that some consumers who had installed the seats needed to cut the belt material just to remove their children.

The manufacturer notes that no injuries have yet been reported, but the NHTSA has received 80 complaints about the seats.

Manufacturers of products for children and infants such as toys, strollers and car seats have a legal responsibility to make their products safe. If the product is defectively designed or unreasonably dangerous, the manufacturer can be held liable for damages in the event of an injury or death caused by the product defect.

Defective products are something that manufacturers have a legal duty to prevent. In the event a child is injured due to a defective car seat, an  Illinois defective product s attorney  can bring a claim against the manufacturer on the family’s behalf.

Source:  Huffingtonpost, “Graco Car Seat Recall Applies to 3.8M Units of 11 Different Models,” Dee-Ann Durbin, Feb. 11, 2014

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