The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recommends that child safety seats and boosters be replaced following a moderate or severe crash in order to ensure a continued high level of crash protection for child passengers. Whether to replace a child car seat or booster is something beyond the scope of this blog and I would defer that issue to your local fire department or expert on child car seats.
Legally, however, the person that causes an accident is responsible for any resulting property damage. In fact, Florida law requires all car owners to maintain property damage insurance that will pay for damage to your vehicle and any other property damage, like child car seats and boosters. Thus, you are allowed to make a claim against the other person’s insurance for replacing child car seats and boosters following an accident and based on the NHTSA, you should replace these items following an accident.
