We placed this link in the same post as the NBC piece but it really needs to be on it's own. The Office of Defects Investigation is an entity within NHTSA. Their website is fantastic and they continue to add functionality.
Currently, the site allows you to not only search to see if your child's car seat is recalled but will guide you through registering it with the manufacturer. You can even subscribe to recall alerts via email. Also, use it to see if any safety components of your vehicle might be recalled.
Checking to see if your vehicle is free of recalls is an often overlooked aspect of child passenger safety. Imagine confidently installing a car seat using LATCH only to find out that the lower anchors were defective. Perhaps the seat belts or braking systems in your vehicle have been recalled by the manufacturer. Generally, if you've kept up with the scheduled maintenance of your car this is not an issue. But, it never hurts to check.
It's pretty simple but leave a comment if you need some help navigating their site.
Comments