MSNBC is reporting on the safety of car booster seats after a new ratings list was released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Our Boston personal injury lawyers have written before about the need to ensure the safety of the products you are introducing into your home, especially where children are concerned. The Consumer Product Safety Commission issues hundreds of recalls each year involving products marketed for children. In many cases, when a child or an adult is seriously injured or killed by a dangerous product, a Massachusetts defective product claim may be pursued.
Booster seats are a special case because the other half of the equation is the type of vehicle you own. In this case, the report looked at how well the seats mate with vehicles to keep children safe. The IIHS reviewed 72 models and assigned a “Best Bet” rating to the 21 booster seat that correctly fit a full-range of vehicles. Booster seats that don’t properly fit a vehicle’s seat belts can lead to serious injuries in the event of a crash.
“We’ve been rating booster seats for a full three years now and in this latest round we’ve found them to be a lot better than they used to be,” says Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the institute, which released the report Wednesday. “There are a lot more good choices for parents now with more boosters on our list of ‘Best Bets.”
Last year, only nine seats received the “Best Bet” rating.
The full-list of safety-rated booster seats is available here.
If you have been injured by a defective product in Massachusetts, contact Boston Injury Lawyer Jeffrey S. Glassman for a free and confidential appointment to discuss your rights. Call 877-617-5333.