Parents want nothing more than to keep their children safe in their vehicles. To accomplish this, they often research dozens of car seats, check height and weight requirements, secure harnesses, and make sure young children remain rear-facing for the recommended amount of time.
Yet the car seat itself is only one part of the vehicle’s overall safety system. In a serious collision, the performance and stability of the vehicle’s seats themselves can also affect the people riding in the back.
One potential and lesser-known concern of vehicle seat design is seat back failure. For a child sitting behind that seat, the movement may reduce available space during the crash and contribute to them suffering serious injuries.
During Child Passenger Safety Week, families should be aware of this potential risk, along with the everyday steps they can take to help protect their youngest passengers. If your child has been injured in a car accident from seat-back failure, contact Fieger Law for help.
What Is Seat Back Failure?
A vehicle seat is designed to do much more than just keep an occupant comfortable. Modern vehicle seats are highly engineered safety devices that are required to withstand significant forces during a crash. Unfortunately, not all seats pass this test.
Seat back failure can occur when a driver’s or front passenger’s seat reclines or collapses backward during a collision. The front-seat occupant may also be thrown backward as the seat moves.
That movement can create an additional hazard for someone seated directly behind the affected seat. When the rear passenger is a child, the potential consequences can be extremely dangerous because of the child’s size and vulnerability to traumatic injuries during crashes.
Seat performance during collisions has been examined by safety researchers, engineers, attorneys, and crash reconstruction professionals for many years. Unfortunately, failures leading to injuries still happen. When a serious injury occurs, investigating how the seats and other vehicle components performed can be an important part of determining why the occupants were hurt.
Why Rear-Facing Car Seats Remain Important
Parents should continue using rear-facing car seats according to the car seat manufacturer’s height and weight limits. Rear-facing seats in particular offer several important safety benefits for children during crashes.
They help:
- Support a child’s head, neck, and spine
- Distribute crash forces across a larger area of the child’s body
- Reduce the likelihood of certain serious injuries in a collision
- Protect young children whose developing bodies are particularly vulnerable to crash forces
The effectiveness of any car seat also depends on proper use. Parents and caregivers should follow the manufacturer’s instructions, use an appropriate seat for the child’s size, and make sure the seat is installed correctly.
How Do I Know if My Vehicle Is at Risk of Seat Back Failure?
Seat back strength and design can vary among vehicles, models, and model years. A seat that appears sturdy during ordinary use may behave quite differently under the forces generated in a high-speed crash.
Vehicle owners can stay informed about the risk of seat back failures in their vehicles by checking for safety recalls and reviewing information related to their specific make, model, and model year. Any recall involving seats, seat tracks, recliner mechanisms, restraints, or other occupant-protection components should be addressed in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.
Owners should also pay attention to signs that a seat or its adjustment mechanisms may already be damaged. A seat that feels loose, shifts unexpectedly, fails to lock securely into position, or has been damaged in a previous collision may warrant inspection by a qualified professional.
After a serious crash, the condition of the seat itself can also provide important evidence. A seat that is twisted, reclined, detached, or misshapen may need to be examined to determine how the collision caused the occupants’ injuries.
Can I Prevent or Reduce the Risk of Seat Back Failure?
Drivers can’t control how every vehicle component will perform in a collision, but families can take practical steps to improve overall passenger safety.
One of the most important steps, especially for families with young children, is to ensure that all car seats and booster seats are installed and used according to manufacturer instructions. Parents who want help checking an installation can locate a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician.
Other important precautions to take include:
- Keep young children rear-facing and in the back seat until they reach the applicable height or weight limit for their car seat.
- Ensure that every occupant is buckled up and in the right car seat for their height and weight on every trip.
- Check the vehicle for open safety recalls and have recall repairs completed.
- Make sure front seats lock securely into position and seek service if a seat feels loose or moves unexpectedly.
- Secure loose objects that could become dangerous projectiles during a collision.
- Follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for replacing a car seat after a crash.
- Replace or repair damaged vehicle seating and restraint components as appropriate.
These steps can help families reduce preventable risks and ensure the safety equipment they rely on is used as intended.
What Injuries Are Associated With Seat Back Failure?
The injuries associated with a seat back collapse depend on factors that include the severity and direction of the crash, where each occupant was sitting, whether restraints were used, and how far the front seat moved.
When a front seat collapses backward, a rear passenger may be struck by the seat or the front-seat occupant. The movement may also reduce the protective space available to a child in the rear passenger compartment.
Potential injuries during a crash that results in seat back failure can include:
- Head and facial injuries
- Neck and spinal cord injuries
- Broken bones
- Chest and abdominal injuries
- Paralysis and other permanent neurological injuries
In the most severe cases, crash-related injuries may even be fatal.
Determining the role a seat played in an injury can require detailed analysis. Investigators may examine the vehicle, damaged seat components, photographs, crash data, medical records, and other physical evidence to reconstruct what happened.
When a Vehicle Defect May Contribute to a Crash Injury
Vehicles contain many different systems that are designed to help protect occupants in a collision. Seats, seat belts, airbags, car seat anchors, head restraints, and structural components can all influence the outcome of a crash.
When one of those systems fails to perform as intended, a vehicle or component defect may contribute to injuries beyond those caused by the initial impact. Depending on the evidence, an affected family may have claims involving both the driver responsible for the collision and a manufacturer or another party responsible for a defective vehicle or component.
Preserving the vehicle after a serious crash when a seat back failure occurred is important. This can allow engineers, crash reconstruction professionals, and other experts to evaluate seat movement, component damage, restraint performance, and other factors that may help explain how the injuries occurred.
What Compensation Is Available for Families Affected by Seat Back Failure?
A serious injury to a child can result in significant upfront expenses along with long-term financial and personal consequences for both the child and their loved ones.
Families can often pursue compensation for expenses such as:
- Emergency treatment and hospitalization
- Surgery and other medical procedures
- Rehabilitation and physical or occupational therapy
- Future medical care
- Assistive equipment and accessibility needs
- Pain and suffering
- Permanent disability or disfigurement
- Other losses associated with a catastrophic injury
If a collision resulting in a seat back failure causes a child’s death, the family may also be able to file a wrongful death claim.
Child Passenger Safety Extends Beyond the Car Seat
Child Passenger Safety Week gives parents and caregivers an important chance to review the basics before a crash happens. This includes checking their vehicles for recalls, choosing the correct car seats, installing them properly, keeping children rear-facing for as long as recommended, and ensuring everyone in their vehicles is properly restrained.
Fieger Law believes every child deserves the highest level of protection on the road. If your family has been affected by a car crash and you have questions about whether seat back failure or another vehicle defect contributed to your child’s injuries, we can investigate the crash, evaluate all of the available evidence, and pursue accountability and compensation from the responsible parties.
Contact us today for a free consultation.
