Counterfeit car seats flood market, pose major safety risk, experts say

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Counterfeit car seats are a risk on the road that could put your child in danger if you buy one.

Experts tell ABC News and the ABC7 I-Team that there is increase of fakes on the market.

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Illinois law requires children under 8 to be properly secured in a car seat. But what if the car seat you bought was a counterfeit, putting your child in harm's way?

Stephanie Cortes and her children attended a local car seat check at the Evergreen Park Fire Department.

"I've been involved in an accident, so that's very important to me for them to be secure... for anything that can happen," Cortes said.

Experts were inspecting to make sure parents are strapping kids in properly.

Safety advocates are also looking for possible counterfeits, which experts say could injure a child or put their life at risk.

Clare Pfotenhauer is the child passenger safety resource coordinator for the Illinois Department of Transportation and Rush Copley Medical Center.

"This strapping [on a certified car seat] is about an inch and a half and the straps should be between an inch and a half and two inches," Pfotenhauer said. "Now, let's look at [an uncertified car seat.] These straps are an inch and look how thin and flimsy they are compared to this."

Pfotenhauer said she found the fake at a recent car seat check.

ABC News and ABC stations across the country are also finding counterfeit car seats, and experts say more are being sold online.

ABC News purchased three car seats from online vendors. Dr. Alisa Baer, a certified child safety technician, said none of the seats ABC purchased passed the test.

"Any dupe that you buy might have ramifications," Dr. Baer said. "If it's a dupe of a car seat, your baby might not survive a crash that they could have survived had they been in a car seat that was a real car seat, meaning it it met the U.S. safety standards."

Back in Evergreen Park, Pfotenhauer said another way to spot a fake is by looking at the anchors on the base of the car seat. If they are longer, watch out.

"If you look at the length of the lower anchors to get to it, it is much longer than a regular car seat," Pfotenhauer said.

She also said you should look at the stickers. Real car seats have all the details.

"Gives you the manufacturer the model number when it was manufactured. And some of them will even tell you when it expires," Pfotenhauer said. "If it's real, and if you see they all have those QR codes, you can take your picture. Go to it, and it's going to take you to the manufacturer's website... [a fake] will have none of it."

That's information you also need to check to see if the car seat gets recalled.

"You're going to see nothing on [a counterfeit]," Pfotenhauer said. "Look at [a real one]... Even your verbiage will be different... you can see the difference in the plastic in itself."

Pfotenhauer also said you want a five-point harness like what's on the real one, not a three-point harness which is on the counterfeit.

The biggest warning sign is a super cheap price.

"The lady that we confiscated this thing from, she paid $30," Pfotenhauer said.

Experts say most counterfeit car seats on the market right now are "rear-facing" ones posing as some of the most popular brands.

Those are mostly purchased for younger children and by first-time parents who may easily get tricked by an online counterfeit.

You can watch more the ABC News investigation into counterfeit car seats and what they found nationwide on GMA Friday morning.