Galveston accident lawyer responds: Mercury updated the Sable in 2000 for the 2001 model year. The 2001 model year is the first of the Mercury Sables to include the LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for CHildren) child safety feature.

Top tether anchors have been part of passenger car safety equipment since 2000. But lower LATCH anchors (which is what people generally mean when they refer to a LATCH system) weren’t required in many passenger vehicles until the 2003 model year. All car seats manufactured beginning in September 2002 had to be LATCH compatible.

The LATCH system should make installation of your baby’s car seat safer and easier for you. You can attach the car seat directly to the anchors embedded within the vehicle. (If you don’t immediately see the anchors, you should be able to find the embedded metal anchors by “feel.”) These anchors form part of the car itself. It’s safer to attach a car seat to these anchors than to seat belts that can sometimes loosen, give way or fail.

Front-facing car seats for infants and toddlers made in 2002 or after should have both upper and lower LATCH attachments to which you can tether the car seat. But all child passenger safety seats (including rear-facing car seats) that have a 5-point harness contain at least the lower LATCH anchor system.

The LATCH system and your careful and correct use of it in your Mercury Sable can help preserve your child’s health, life and well being in the event of a wreck. A correctly secured car seat can help give your child the benefit of additional “ride-down” time in a collision. The car seat will also help distribute the forces of the collision evenly across the child’s car seat and body, rather than allowing that force to be concentrated on any one point of the baby’s body.

Take advantage of the “car seat check” days offered by government safety agencies to make sure that you have the right car seat for your child and that it’s installed correctly. Make sure that your car seat hasn’t been recalled for defects. If your child does receive injuries from a car wreck, you may be able to recover financial compensation from the parties responsible for causing the injuries. This could help pay for your child’s medical expenses from the accident and for the pain, suffering and distress s/he experienced because of the collision.

Call our Galveston accident lawyers for a free consultation if you have questions about your child’s injuries after the accident. Tony Denena and Chad Points could evaluate the circumstances of the car wreck and help you understand your legal choices and chances of making a full financial recovery following the traumatic wreck. If a car seat defect caused your child’s harm, the manufacturer could be liable to you for the injuries. Call our Galveston accident lawyers today. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make informed choices about your child’s future in the aftermath of a serious wreck.