We look at complaint rates, failure rates, the consequences of the failure. A lot of different factors go into deciding whether something rises to a safety defect level. It's more or less a judgment call. The public seldom hears about child seat lawsuits even though they're quite common. The vast majority of cases are settled out of court and details, particularly the size of the settlements, are sealed from publicity.
Settlements are common for another reason.
The Clark case wasn't settled immediately because Kolcraft thought it could show that no seat would have protected Cody in that crash. Stalnaker said in his deposition that the Florida boy was injured because neither one of his parents wore seat belts - not because there was anything wrong with the Kolcraft Rock'n Ride. Stalnaker said the weight of the father moving sideways in the crash crushed the child and the seat into his mother's thigh. John Harcourt, an engineer who analyzes accidents, testified that if the hook hadn't broken, the seat probably wouldn't have been in a position to be clamped between two opposing surfaces. If you prevent head contact with the dash you virtually eliminate the head injury.