THURSDAY, Aug. 29, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Jillian Davis was pleased to be gifted a car seat during her pregnancy, from a family member who bought it online from a major retailer. But following the delivery of her daughter in late June, a car seat tech at her Salt Lake City hospital informed her that the seat was an unsafe counterfeit.
“It’s completely shocking because this is my fourth child and I’ve never heard of this being an issue,” Davis said in a hospital news release. “It’s scary to think I could have been driving around with my child in a car seat that’s dangerous.” Online retailers are selling fake kid’s car seats that are very likely to fail in a crash, child health experts warn.
These seats are enticing because they cost much less than major brands, and are sold on prominent national retail websites through third-party sellers, experts said. “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 Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. “Once they realize there’s a problem and try to return it, the site they got it from has already been taken down,” Jamison added in a hospital news release.
Intermountain Children’s offers car seat checks to help parents properly install and use the seats. It’s during these checks that experts started noticing more of these count.