Georgia Injury Law Blog
The federal administration has finalized a new rule that will strengthen standards for car safety seat design and manufacture, and help to protect children from serious personal injuries in side impact car accidents.
The rule has been more than two decades in the making. For years now, child safety advocates have been calling on the federal administration to ensure that the child car safety seats that millions of American parents trust to keep their children safe are manufactured with the ability to withstand personal injuries in side- impact auto accidents or T-bone car accidents. These are deadly auto accidents and can cause serious personal injuries to passengers in the car.
Congress asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to enact a rule like this two decades ago, and the time has finally come. The agency has finally announced its intention to finalize the rule. The rule will require that manufacturers test child car safety seats for protection in side- impact auto accidents and not just frontal impact car accidents. Earlier, car seat manufacturers were only required to test for frontal impact auto accidents at 30 miles per hour . The new rule requires that manufacturers also test their car seats for side impact at 30 mph.
The safety of the car seats that millions of Americans parents trust everyday has been the focus of scrutiny for a couple of years now. Back in 2020, an investigation by ProPublica found that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was approving car seats that performed poorly in crash tests. The seats were flying around in crash tests, but received approval just the same. The ProPublica investigation was followed by a House Oversight Committee investigation that found that car seat manufacturers were often guilty of getting their seats approved in spite of not getting these products tested appropriately in side – impact car crashes, thereby placing the lives of millions of American children in danger. In 2021, 16 state attorneys general wrote to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration calling on the agency to enact stricter standards for car seat manufacturers, including the testing of car seats in side-impact auto accidents. At that point, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that a new rule would be finalized by January 2022.
The rule is welcome, even though it is several months delayed, and several decades in the passing. Stronger car seats can mean the difference between life and death for children involved in car accidents. Side- impact auto accidents are deadly car accidents that can endanger not just children, but also adults in these auto accidents. These are deadly car accidents that are caused by motorists who run red lights and hit vehicles in the side.
The Atlanta car crash attorneys at Katz Personal Injury Lawyers are dedicated to the representation of persons injured in car accidents in the metro Atlanta region and across Georgia. If you or a loved one have suffered injuries in a car accident, talk to a lawyer at our firm and determine if you have legal options to a claim for damages. You may be eligible for compensation that includes medical expenses, lost income and other types of damages. Talk to an attorney at our firm and discuss your case.