Shannon Carino contacted us to tell us her belief that her correctly installed Britax Marathons saved the life of her two children who walked away from a roll-over crash.
We were heading home from my daughter's 5th birthday party and waiting to make a left turn to take her father some cake & pizza at his office. We had been waiting in the intersection as I had held off an earlier turn due to oncoming traffic. The light turned yellow and the last oncoming car seemed to be slowing down. Since I was waiting in the intersection, I had to complete my turn, so I went. The same car that had been slowing down changed their mind, hit the gas to speed up and run the light.
They hit my car right in the passenger side door. The combination of my turn and the impact was enough to cause my car to flip. The airbags deployed and the roll bars popped in the back (soft top Mercedes CLK convertible so the roll bars came out of the rear headrests). The car landed upside down.
My cell landed next to me, so I called 911. A young guy came running up to us and told me his friend was calling as well. The kids were screaming and a woman stopped & told me she was a nurse. She said the kids looked good to her and to just try to stay calm till the firemen got there. She and another woman were on either side of the car talking to the kids. The firemen were there within minutes and since I told them I felt fine, they were able to release the seatbelt and help me out of the car.
They got Faith out next and put her immediately on a backboard as a precaution. Ben was more difficult because his side was caved in, I think they were able to get him via the driver's side. Again, they put him on a backboard as well. They took the kids by ambulance to the nearest hospital. Ben had calmed down by this point and Faith was talking and telling the paramedics & me that she was OK. At the hospital, the doctors checked them out immediately - everything was fine and the precautions taken by the paramedics were just that, precautions. Faith had nothing wrong with her, no bumps, bruises, scratches, etc. Ben has a tiny (size of a nickel) bruise on his forehead, probably from the toy he had been holding prior to the accident. To be on the safe side, the doctors ran a CAT scan--by the time they came back to tell us the CAT scan was normal, my monkey boy was using the hospital bed as a trampoline.
If you look at the pictures, you can still see the kids' Marathons installed in the back seat. Despite all that, they are still rock solid in the car and they "look" perfect to the naked eye. I have already trashed them since we have no clue about internal damage and replaced them with Regents. I give Britax a lot of credit for producing such a seat, they did everything I needed them to do and my kids are perfectly happy & healthy. The car is completely totaled; the insurance company doesn't consider it safe to drive so they are not interested in trying to repair it, yet my kids are fine.
Faith occasionally used a booster when she was in my husband's car so we didn't have to keep switching seats, but I am convinced she would not have walked away "just fine" had she been riding in that instead of her Marathon. I'm no longer comfortable using the booster, even just the occasional time she goes in his car instead of mine, so we will be purchasing one more high-weight restraint for her. Even though she is 5 and in kindergarten, she is staying in the Regent for awhile. When those seats expire (6 years down the line), we can discuss something else, but until then, I'm staying with the high weight Britax seats.
