Child safety seats have saved countless children from injury during car wrecks, especially front-end wrecks, for which the seats are designed. A front-end wreck is the most common form of wreck. Child safety seats must adhere to strict federal standards for safety during a front-end wreck.

The standards that apply to the manufacturing of child safety seats for front-end wrecks do not apply for side-impact wrecks, which have the highest rate of serious injury and fatality.

During a side-impact car wreck, children in safety seats are especially vulnerable to sustaining serious injuries to the upper body, especially the head, neck, face, thorax and chest.

A recent recall of Evenflo Discovery child safety seats has brought to light the seriousness of the concern. Over 1 million of the Evenflo Discovery seats were recalled at the end of January because the portable carrier can detach from the secured base during a side-impact car wreck.

The recalled Evenflo Discovery seats were made between April 2005 and January 2008. The lot numbers affected by the recall are 390, 391, 534 and 552.

The recall of the safety seats was voluntary and Evenflo is offering a free latch to anyone that calls the company. They claim that the latch will fix the defect, which causes the seat to disengage from the base during a side-impact wreck.

The Evenflo Discovery recall is the first recall of child safety seats that is a direct result of side-impact tests, but the voluntary recall may not extend as far back as necessary to address the problem.

Child safety seat attorneys are working on cases that involve serious injuries that result from defective child safety seats. A family has filed a personal injury lawsuit against Evenflo, because their child was injured when a Discover child safety seat failed in a side-impact car wreck in 2002. The carrier holding the child disengaged from the base during the wreck, causing the child to sustain serious injury. The seat was manufactured in 2000.

European manufacturers have designed special seats that address the concern of child safety during a side-impact wreck. The United States federal government is scheduled to meet later this year to establish safety standards for child safety seats in side-impact car wrecks.

European manufacturers have developed child safety seats with side-wings, in order to protect a child’s head from injury during a side-impact wreck. Due to the lack of specific and uniform standards, it is not possible to test if the European designs are effective in child safety.

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