Car accidents are scary and dangerous for everyone involved, but especially for a young child. Young children have a much greater risk of injury in an accident. Car seats are supposed to keep them safer in an accident, but what happens when this safety feature actually makes things more dangerous? In the case of 4 million defective Graco car seats, yes it can.

The defective Graco car seats have a buckle that can get stuck, making it very difficult for parents to get their child out of the seat. This becomes a major safety issue when there is an emergency, because the child can’t be gotten out of the seat quickly. In some instances the straps on the seat had to be cut. In some situations this extra time could be the difference between life and death.

Much of the outrage over this recall stems from the fact that Graco knew about the problem, but didn’t initiate a recall. Graco claimed that their was only a problem with the buckle when food or drink got on the buckle, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that the issue was forseeable.

The NHTSA fined Graco 3 million dollars, and they had to spend 7 million dollars on safety programs. Graco isn’t the only car seat manufacturer to have to issue a recall over safety concerns. Baby Trend had a similar problem with their buckles and issued a recall in 2014. Britax issued a recall on its carrier car seats in 2015, saying that the handle could break when it was being carried. This would result in the car seat and the child being dropped.

When someone gets injured because of a flaw or defect in a product, the company that made the product can and should be held financially responsible. This is a specific type of personal injury law called Defective Products or product liability. It is a company’s responsibility to make sure their products are safe, and to issue a recall if any safety issues arise.

These types of cases can result in very large settlements for injured plaintiffs. An accident attorney in Chicago helped a man get a settlement of over one million dollars after his leg was partially amputated due to defective agricultural machinery.