I know infant seats have to be replaced following an accident but what about HBB? As they aren't strapped in I don't see how any forces could have been applied to damage it? It was a rear end shunt, our car will probably be written off for economic reasons but it wasn't a catastrophic accident. The seat was empty at the time.

It's not a cost thing, other party's insurance will be paying, I just hate waste and don't want to chuck a perfectly good 5 month old ??90 car seat if it doesn't really need it, I'm already pissed off enough that we have to chuck an Ultimax. WDYT?

Im no expert when it comes to baby seats, but i would maybe contact the manufacturer to ask their advice. I do know some of the reasons for saying to get a new one. I worked in the motorcycle industry and its the same with helmets . The reason is the padding in helmets/.car seats looks like normal polystyrene but is designed to compress during an accident to absorb the force of the impact. The prob is once it has compressed, it wont compress again. If you imagine squashing foam that didnt spring back out. The next time you need to squash it, there is no squash left

If your lo wasnt in the seat i would imagine it will be ok as it wont have compressed against your lo.

Hope that makes sense, but i would still seek advice

Gemm x

We had to get rid of ours - the company said it wasnt safe due to the shock vibrations even though my ds1 wasnt in the car. They said there was a risk that there was a stress fracture in the polystyrene that couldnt be seen that could have been caused by the jolt of energy passing through the car from the shunt. We thought it was a waste but did what the company advised got a better one out of it (that then had to be replaced 3 months later because we were in another accident hit from behind where my son was in it)
But it is up to you