The Community Health team at Intermountain Children’s Health are seeing a rise in the number of parents unknowingly purchasing counterfeit car seats online for their children.
These types of seats are almost always purchased online and are enticing because of the steep discount in price compared to major brands. What often confuses parents is that these seats are found on the websites of major national retailers through third-party sellers.
“It’s hard to tell a car seat is counterfeit from a small picture online, and many parents think they found a great deal from a major retailer,” said Michelle Jamison, community health program manager at Intermountain Community Health & Primary Children’s Hospital. “Once they realize there’s a problem and try to return it, the site they got it from has already been taken down.”
Intermountain’s counterfeit car seat education and awareness campaign has garnered national media coverage and is informing work for the U.S. Product Safety Commission.
The Children’s Health team has organized events across the mountain west, and most recently in Las Vegas in conjunction with Clark County Safe Kids, University Medical Center, Select Health, Intermountain Pediatric Clinics, and others.
The types of counterfeit car seats caregivers are starting to see more of look legitimate and can cost hundreds of dollars. But many of these are missing key components that keep children safe in a crash, and they worry that using these seats could have deadly consequences.
They say the best way to avoid counterfeit car seats is to buy directly from the manufacturer’s website or go to a store in person to purchase the seat. All these models will be legitimate and meet safety standards.
“Parents may think an in-store purchase is more expensive but what they’re really getting is the peace of mind their child’s car seat is safe,” Michelle said. “While some models are pricey, there are less expensive ones that are still crash tested and safe.”
All car seats are required to have a manufacturers label which includes the name of the car seat, date of manufacture, branding, model number, and expiration date.
This information is used to help register your car seat, which allows manufacturers to notify you of any recalls. Counterfeit car seats don’t have the number and make it ineligible to register.
“If you determine that you have a counterfeit car seat, stop using it immediately and contact the retailer to notify them that they sold a counterfeit,” Michelle said. “You may be able to recover the cost of the seat if you used a credit card or purchased through a major retailer.”
Parents can also report it through STOPfakes.gov, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) or the U.S. Department of Commerce via their contact form.
They should also submit a report through their state’s consumer protection agency. For help with evaluating or installing your car seat, find a technician near you.
Intermountain Car Seat Technicians are available in person in Utah at Primary Children’s Hospital Salt Lake and Lehi campuses (801-622-CARS), and in Colorado at Saint Joseph (303) 358-1413, Good Samaritan (303) 908-8326, and Lutheran Hospitals (720) 425-2248.
For more child safety tips, go to intermountainhealth.org/childrenshealth.