AUSTIN (KXAN) – With the holiday shopping season upon us, experts warn of online vendors selling counterfeit car seats for discounted prices.
Counterfeit car seats have been a growing issue nationwide and throughout Texas. And with many families currently feeling financially strained, healthcare professionals are seeing fraudulent seats increasingly pop up.
“We've started to notice them a lot more,” said Stewart Williams, the injury prevention manager at Dell Children’s Medical Center.
“Families are coming in, they're delivering the child, and they're getting ready to discharge, so they bring that seat in to put the baby into,” he continued. “Our nursing teams or social workers will [say], ‘Hey, there's something not quite right with the seat.’”
Legitimate car seats sold in the U.S. must meet federal safety standards and certain crash test requirements, while fraudulent ones online may not, Williams said.
“There's an increased risk to you and your child because those seats are not necessarily meeting federal safety standards,” he said.
For families using an “off-brand” model with a cryptic manufacturer, “there's no recourse for [them] if involved in a motor vehicle crash and find that it was at the fault of the manufacturer or the seat where a child received an injury,” Williams said.
“There's no way to really hold the manufacturer accountable,” he continued.
To ensure its legitimacy, check for warning labels, a manufacturer sticker, labels indicating the seat meets the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, and that it has a registration card, said Emily Thurman, a program specialist with the Safe Riders program at the Texas Department of State Health Services.
“If your car seat looks like it's missing anything, I would investigate it further. Do your research and it may be a counterfeit seat,” Thurman said. “If it is, then you can report it to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.”
Additionally, there are several places where families can take their car seats to check their legitimacy. DSHS has a state-wide initiative called the Child Passenger Safety Program, with over 80 locations.
“These locations provide child passenger safety education to caregivers. We will go over how to harness your child in the correct seat, how to adjust the seat to fit the child appropriately, and how to install the car seat,” Thurman said.
“These sites will also provide a car seat to families who are eligible, who maybe need a car seat at no cost to the family, as long as they are eligible for the seat,” she continued.
