Car Seats Could Be To Blame For Fatalities In Accidents

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- There's a warning about the safety of the seats in your car! A CBS investigation found people are being hurt and even killed when the seat back breaks and federal regulations aren't catching the problem.

Meghan McCorkell has the alarming problem that could affect your family.

Three children are killed and almost 500 injured in car crashes every day---and often, they're hit by the car's own seats.

Sixteen-month-old Taylor Warner was riding in the backseat of her family's minivan five years ago when it was rear-ended at 55 miles an hour.

"I noticed there was blood coming out of her face; I knew that something else was wrong," said Liz Warner.

Taylor was in her car seat behind her father. His seat broke and struck Taylor in the face, killing her.

"And it was all because of some stupid car that we thought was the safest thing we could get for our family to protect them," Warner said.

Crash tests show what can happen when a seat collapses: the driver is launched backwards and slams into the child's face. Drivers can also be injured or killed.

Alan Cantor has led an independent crash test lab for nearly 30 years.

"Some of [the car makers] have made their seats stronger [but] there's no way to know as a consumer," he said. "That's because seat testing is not included in the current star safety ratings. Vehicles can have five stars and still have weak seats.

"If they had changed the government standards to a point where they wouldn't fail, we would still have a six-year-old running around," Warner said.

NHTSA has been aware of the issue since 1992. Back then, they warned of major or fatal injuries when seat backs collapse.

In a statement to CBS News, NHTSA said they decided in 2004 not to look any further into seat back accidents because it was too difficult to provide "real data" and not just anecdotal evidence.