Creates a cause of action for the replacement cost of a child restraint system that is in a motor vehicle at the time of a motor vehicle accident.

Summary of RI Bill: Child Car Seat Replacement After Accidents

This bill would give Rhode Island parents and caregivers a legal right to seek reimbursement for the cost of replacing a child car seat (such as an infant carrier, convertible seat, or booster seat) if it was in a vehicle during a car accident. Even if a car seat looks undamaged after a crash, safety experts generally recommend replacing it because the structural integrity may be compromised. This bill would create a formal legal pathway — called a "cause of action" — to pursue that replacement cost.

Under this bill, if your child's car seat was in a vehicle involved in an accident, you could take legal action to recover the money needed to replace it. In practice, this would most likely affect claims made against an at-fault driver's insurance company. Rather than having to absorb that out-of-pocket expense or fight informally with an insurance company, affected families would have a clear legal basis to demand compensation for the replacement.

This bill primarily affects parents and caregivers who transport children in vehicles, as well as insurance companies that may be responsible for paying these replacement costs. It could also affect drivers whose insurance policies might need to cover this new category of expense. The bill has been introduced in the Rhode Island Senate and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it is scheduled for a hearing in April 2026.