Bad accident locally (for the carseat gurus)

[USAmma]

I just saw news of a terrible accident on the news tonight. A mom was driving her 4 kids to school: ages 8, 5, 4, and 1. She turned in front of a large pickup truck (her fault). The 1yo is okay, the police said due to the fact she was properly secured in her carseat. The 8yo is also okay. The 4 and 5 yo girls were critically injured and the 4yo ended up dying. They were in their booster seats, but the actual seat of the 4yo came off the floor of the minvan and the girl and her seat were thrown out. The 5yo's seat also came off the base of the van but was not thrown. She is fighting for her life. The news report said the mother is known for being very cautious, and she apparently was, b/c the two middle girls were still in boosters. What could this mother done differently to prevent the 4yo from being thrown? How in the world can a whole seat come off like that?! Is it bad design or just a bad accident? I feel so sorry for this mama and the guilt she's going to have for the rest of her life.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/s....2ad6e62b.html

According to police, the 1-year-old was in a car seat and the older ones were in booster seats.
At least one child was ejected and the 4-year-old and 5-year-old girls were flown to St. Joseph's Hospital in extremely critical condition. The 4-year-old reportedly has died.

[rainbowmoon]

omg I saw this on the morning news how terribly sad and tragic.

[johub]

SOunds like the vehicle needs a recall! Safety restraints cant do much good if the car's seat doesnt stay put in the car!

[mamaduck]

I drove a minivan for a couple years. It was a bit confusing to re-install the middle seat after taking it out to move furniture or whatever. The wheels had to click in just so, and then you had to depress two little knobby things over the wheels until they matched the little pictures shown. It was not simple. Several times my DH put the seat in, and I later would discover that he had done it improperly.

Sad, sad story. Poor mama.

[j924]

Was it a Dodge Caravan? I could not open the article. They have recently made some safety changes to the seatbelt latches. We have a 2003 Caravan and the seatbelts are fine now, but on our old one the safety seat could press the seatbelt and it would unlatch. There was also a news magazine type show(20/20 Dateline) that brought to light the safety(or lack thereof) of these latches. Just before the show aired we had stopped short having been going less than 15mph and our safety seat came unlatched. Our dd was fine but that is the only explanation we could come up with. My heart goes out to that family.

[Finch]

Stuff like this just scares the crap out of me.

[pixie-n-hertwoboys]

oh that poor mama!!!! what a shame. so the whole seat from the van itself came off? how scarey is that? so she couldn't of done anything different if that was the case.... sounds like a van issue. scarey, scarey stuff!

[juicylucy]

that poor mama How terribly tragic.

[dallaschildren]

There are a few wrecks, where no matter what you did, or how correctly installed your safety seats are, there are still fatalities.
As for this particular wreck...if the vehicle seats came OUT of the floor of the van with the boosters, kids and all on them, it would stand to reason that this is a MAJOR defect and the vehicle manufacture is in big trouble. That's my "professional" opinion from a legal standpoint and as a tech.
My personal thoughts....first off, this is a terrible tragedy. I cannot imagine what that mom is going through. Bless her and her family.
Secondly, I wonder what the history of the car is. Was it bought used and if so, what is it's background? Was it involved in prior wrecks, was a part recalled or defective and it was never taken in for repair, was it a flood damaged car? I don't know...there are a multitude of reasons why this vehicle's actual seats were ejected. Wow. Very sad.

Dallaschildren
CPS tech and mom to 2 sons in seats

[dallaschildren]

Also..not to put blame on anyone but another possibility is even when a child is in a booster, if the vehicle lap and shoulder belts are not in position, it could be as if they were not restrained at all. This is especially dependant on the way the car was hit. In a rollover wreck for example....an un-restrained passenger will almost always be ejected from the vehicle. A passenger that perhaps has their shoulder belt BEHIND their back instead of across their chest, and are restrained then by only the lap portion of the belt, can also be ejected. Up and out. A booster does not restrain. The lap and shoulder belt of the vehicle do. Boosters only "boost" a child up high enough to allow that lap and shoulder to fit them, and restrain them on the areas of the body that are the strongest.

Dallaschildren
CPS tech and mom to 2 sons in seats

[joandsarah77]

How sad
This is one reason we chose a booster that bolts in like a car seat, I don't trust the loose ones.