Which Is Safer

Thank goodness everyone is okay from the car accident...I am sorry to hear that that happened. I would limit my driving, like you said, until the car seats come in. I got into a wreck last year...someone hit me. My insurance company said that they would reimburse me for all of the car seats or booster seats in my car, as it would not be safe to keep using the ones that were in the vehicle before the crash. Their reasoning is that once a car seat or booster seat is in a crash with impact, the structural integrity of it is compromised and whoever continues to ride in the same seat for any length of time is at a high risk for serious or fatal injury should another accident happen. I would use the Graco seat with the four year old until your new ones arrive.

Best of luck,
J.

Call Btritax, I thnk that they will replace their carseats if you have a car accident.

Be blessed,

K.

You poor dears! I'd say the Marathon as there is a good chance that it is still structurally okay assuming it didn't take direct impact and is not showing hairline fractures anywhere. Glad to hear everyone is fine.

Hello J.! I am so glad you are all ok!!!!!

I have to say, I would most definitely NOT use the car seats that were in the accident. You can never be too safe! And I would NOT put your 4 1/2 year old in a backless booster either. You should keep your children in a 5-point harness seat for AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. Britax makes another seat called The Boulevard and I highly recommend you get that one if the Marathon is unavailable. ALL BRITAX SEATS ARE SAFE - The Boulevard just contains all safety features Britax offers.

If you are in a spot and you MUST drive with your babies than I would go the rental agency route or try to borrow one. And most definitely call your insurance company or Britax.

God bless you all!

When I had an accident 5 or so months ago (pretty bad side impact), my then 9 month old son was in an infant seat. We could tell that the part you pop the seat into was damaged (it had some tension marks from the latch connections), but we ended up using it without the damaged part for another week or so since we needed to get a new car before a car seat to make sure it fit. I would change the way you are using the seat (if you were using latch, switch to the seat belt), but the Marathon is probably safer still.

I would call your insurance company to see if they will reimburse you the cost of new seats as well. I would also call Britax directly, they might be able to send out a seat to you or tell you where you can buy one right away. And depending how old your carseats are, if it still covered under warranty, you might get it for free.

Praise God that you were not hurt!

This sounds weird, but rental car agencies (if you have one near you) might have car seats that they might be willing to loan to you (or rent to you) I would think it would be safer to have one in their size. It is worth a phone call. Or, do you have any other moms that have extras?