“I'm aware of eight fake car seats that have been found by car seat technicians at hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth region over the past several months,” said Sharon Evans, trauma injury prevention coordinator for Cook Children's Medical Center. 

One of those fake seats was found at Cook Children's this past fall when a family was preparing to take their child home from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). 

“I was teaching a class one night with a family and they brought in the car seat and I was just kind of looking at it like, hmm, something's not right,” said Christie Clemons, NICU child passenger safety tech and instructor. "The more I looked at it, the more I determined this was not an okay car seat.” 

Clemons has been a car seat technician for 10 years and says she's never seen anything like the one that showed up in her class that day. After asking a few questions, Clemons learned the family had purchased the seat on the internet. 

Evans said she became sick to her stomach when she heard about it because the family had been using it, not knowing the difference. 

“I just really worry that if a child's in a crash, they're gonna be severely injured or killed. We know there wasn't a retainer clip, which in the United States, most have a chest clip or a retainer clip. But then as we started looking, the webbing is thinner. The buckle where you snap it together is hollow. I could bend the plastic. I could bend the whole seat. The way the straps are attached. I don't think they would hold during a crash. I'm really afraid the child would be severely injured or die,” Evans said.

So how can parents know whether a car seat is counterfeit or fake?

“There should be a sticker on the car seat that says it meets or exceeds, or it conforms to federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) 213,” Evans said. 

Clemons says you also want to look for the manufacturer, model number as well as height and weight requirements which are required to be on the car seat by law. 

“The stickers have to be on the car seat to meet FMVSS 213,” Clemons said. “And you don't have to spend a lot of money to get a really great seat. You just need to make sure that it meets the standards that are out there.”

Both Evans and Clemons hope parents will look for these safety standards when shopping online and in stores because if the unthinkable happens, a quality car seat could save a child's life.  And they encourage everyone to look for these safety standards regardless of the retailer. Even when shopping at a big name brand store.  

“None of us want to think about being in a crash, but if you listen to the news every morning,  there's a high chance you will be,” Evan said. “Unfortunately, the number one way kids are injured or killed is in a car crash.”

One of the best ways you can ensure your car seat is safe and installed properly is to sign up for a free car seat check. Cook Children's and Safe Kids North Texas offer virtual car seat checks at freecarseatcheck.org.  

“Just because it says crash tested doesn’t mean it’s been reviewed or approved by any regulatory agency,” said Sharon Evans, RN, trauma injury prevention coordinator at Cook Children’s.

Previously, non-regulated car seats were seen most in areas like California and New York. But according to Evans, these products are now showing up in North Texas.

Here’s what you need to know:

• To be approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), car seats must meet all the criteria to be able to state they meet or exceed FMVSS 213.
• Unregulated products may be found at well-known stores and online, so it is important for parents to check if the product is approved by the car seat manufacturer to be used with your specific car seat.

“The problem occurs when a parent buys a car seat that meets FMVSS 213, but adds accessories, which are not regulated. These products can alter the way the car seat works in a crash, or the accessory can become a flying missile, like a snap-on mirror,” explains Sharon Evans, trauma injury prevention coordinator at Cook Children’s. “I think parents feel that if it’s being sold by a big name retailer, it has to be safe, but often it isn’t.”

Evans big concern is that many car seat accessories claim to be “crash tested,” even though they are not regulated and do not meet the criteria by NHTSA.

The car seat manufacturers realize this is a problem and many now make non-regulated products such as seat protectors, water-resistant pads or covers for their specific car seats. If parents are going to add something to the car seat, it is important to verify the car seat manufacturer states the accessory is safe to use with the specific brand and model of the car seat.

“Accessories and non-regulated products are designed, made and sold by car seat manufacturers and anyone else who wants to,” Evans explained. “Even though the product may say ‘crash tested’ or meets NHTSA standards or FMVSS 213, however, there are no standards for these products. The product may be crash tested but we don’t know how and we don’t know if the product was tested in specific car seats and/or what car seats.”

What to look for:

• Make sure car seats are labeled with FMVSS 213. This means the product is approved by the NHTSA.
• Non-regulated products often have a similar label of FMVSV 213. These products are not federally registered, and cannot claim to effectively restrain the child or claim to prevent injury.
• Regulated products and accessories will state: Meets or exceeds all federal standards for car seat safety (FMVSS 213 Federal Motor Safety Standard for USA).

“Parents need to be really careful with car seat accessories, because you run the risk of your child being injured due to something like a footrest or head strap,” Evans said. “Unfortunately, some companies are intentionally using confusing labels to sell their products, so it’s really important that parents know what to look out for.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provides child passenger safety that can be found here. 

“We usually see a cluster of patients from crashes in the three to four days before and after Christmas,” said Sharon Evans, trauma injury prevention coordinator at Cook Children’s. “People are stressed, and it’s the height of travel season. We don’t know what it will be like this year due to the pandemic, but we know this time of year is especially dangerous.”

Since 2015, an average of 12 car wreck victims were admitted to Cook Children’s between the dates of Dec. 20-30. Out of those, three were typically not restrained with a seat belt or car seat.

“If a child is properly restrained in a car seat, we may see some cuts and bruises, but they usually ok,” said Evans. “The ones who are much more seriously injured tend to be children in seat belts who are too small and should be using a booster seat.”

In Texas, children are required to remain in a car seat until they are 4 feet 9 inches tall or 8 years old. Experts like Evans say that is the bare minimum, and it’s more important to pay attention to a child’s size than their age since seat belts are made for adults and don’t fit small bodies properly.

“When children are using a seatbelt prematurely, the belt doesn’t fit across the center of their shoulders like it should and kids will tend to put it behind their back or under their arm,” she explained. “Now, their entire upper body is unrestrained. In a crash, this means the child folds over the seatbelt.”

She says these children can suffer cervical spine injuries, as well as serious internal injuries to the spleen, liver and intestines. This is why it’s so important for children to remain in a car seat or booster seat until they fit into a seat belt. Also, any child under 13 years old should ride in the backseat.

“There are no do-overs,” said Evans. “A lot of times we see families who say their child was really tired or fussy and didn’t want to get into the car seat or they wanted to lay down. We understand how that can happen, but families need to know that kind of normal decision can affect your life forever.”

Most Dangerous State

A recent report released by Go Insurance’s partner nonprofit, Go Safe Labs, shows Texas is the least safe state in the country for children in vehicles. Between 2015-2018, Go Safe Labs found that 1,172 children were injured or killed in traffic accidents in the state, with 55% in rural areas and 45% in urban areas.

Further data from the Texas Department of Transportation shows it’s been more than 20 years since the state has seen a day without a death on its roads. November 7, 2000, marked the last time that happened. Since then, more than 70,000 people have lost their lives on Texas roads, with an average of 10 people dying every day.

“You hear about wrecks every time you turn on the news and I think we’ve almost become desensitized to them,” said Evans. “You have to remember, it could be you and it could be serious.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this holiday season could see more deaths than usual.

According to a study by the Center for Transportation Safety (CTS) at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), the number of Texas traffic crashes in April dropped by nearly 50% compared to 2017-2019 averages. While there were fewer crashes, researchers say there was a 50% increase in traffic fatalities. They believe the data is evidence that the risk of death and injury is greater when roads are more clear, likely because people tend to drive faster with fewer cars on the road.

“There’s no way to predict what will happen this holiday season, if there will be more people on the road or less,” said Evans. “But one thing I know for sure is accidents don’t take a day off.”

What Can Parents Do?

If you are traveling with children, make sure they are restrained properly. According to Safe Kids North Texas, four out of five car seats are installed incorrectly. For this reason, they offer free car seat checks to ensure your child’s safety. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, car seat checks are being offered virtually only at this time. You can easily sign up for a check online by clicking here.

Three kids have been ejected total, with one child surviving. It probably doesn’t come as a surprise the cause of the tragedies – the children weren’t restrained properly or not at all in their car seat.

Since April 2015, Cook Children’s Trauma team has treated 13 children who were ejected from a car.

Sharon Evans, Trauma/Injury Prevention outreach coordinator at Cook Children’s, says it’s so frustrating because she has seen wrecks where one child who was properly restrained live and the other child not buckled in dies.

“Honestly, it’s just so infuriating,” Evans said. “These accidents are totally preventable. It’s because the adults in the car aren’t doing something that could save their child’s life. I don’t think people think it can happen to them. But it can happen to anyone. It just breaks my heart because these are deaths that shouldn’t occur if people would just place their kid in the proper car seat and buckle them up with a seat belt.”

Statistics show this is especially a problem for Hispanics in the community. Ninety percent of the ejections that have occurred since April 2015 were Hispanic.

“I think a lot of it has to do with our culture,” said Magdalena Santillan, Trauma Injury Prevention specialist at Cook Children’s. “These are people who love their kids and they want to hold their baby. A lot don’t want to hear their baby cry and so it’s easier to hold their baby in the car. They are showing love, but the consequences are too high. This can be a deadly mistake.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, car crashes are a leading cause of death among children ages 3 to 14. From 2002 to 2011, about 9,000 children under the age of 12 died in car accidents, the agency’s statistics show. Correctly using a child safety seat can reduce the risk of death by as much as 71 percent.

“We know that car seats are working,” Evans said. “Research shows that a properly installed rear-facing car seat is five times safer and can dramatically reduce the risk of head, neck and spinal cord injury if your child is involved in a crash.”

Call 682-885-2634 to set up a FREE car seat checkup to ensure your seat is properly installed.

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Evans is concerned because at Cook Children’s:

• In 2013, there were three motor vehicle crash deaths (compared to 0 in 2012).
• There has been a 10 percent increase in injuries due to unrestrained kids and a 4 percent increase in ejections.

“This is the time of the summer when a lot of families will be traveling on the road,” Evans said. “I’m very concerned about the amount of unrestrained children we are seeing. I would ask all parents to make sure their children are buckled up correctly to prevent a tragedy to their family.”

Graco car seat recall, what you need to know

To see if your model may be covered, or for additional information, call Graco at 1-877-766-7470, or visit www.gracobucklerecall.com, or email consumerservices@gracobaby.com. Sharon Evans, Trauma/Injury Prevention outreach coordinator at Cook Children’s, stresses to parents to register car seats when purchasing them so they will be notified of recalls.