SALT LAKE CITY (KTVX/KUCW) — After Jilian Davis had her baby in late June, her daughter had to spend two weeks in a Utah hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. When it was time to take her daughter home, Davis unfortunately found out her car seat was a counterfeit.

“When we were finally ready to bring her home, we got the devastating news that her car seat was counterfeit and my whole world dropped because I was so confused to even hear those words. How could a baby car seat be counterfeit? What did I miss? She was my fourth baby,” Davis said.

The hospital, Intermountain LDS Hospital & Intermountain Primary Children’s in Salt Lake City, has car seat techs to help educate parents about the proper installation and use of car seats. In the last year, they’ve noticed an uptick in counterfeit seats, or those that don’t meet U.S. safety standards.

Davis experienced a whirlwind of emotions between the excitement of finally getting to take her baby girl home and learning the car seat she had may not be safe.

“When they started inspecting it, as a mom, there were things I was like, ‘Wow, I see it. I saw it once they started pointing it out.’ But having it at home, I didn’t even think twice about it,” she said. “We had taken it out of the box; we had it at the hospital. I had no idea that it was a thing. My first question was how did I never hear about this.”

Davis said the car seat was gifted to her by a family member who bought it online from a major retailer. Caregivers at Intermountain Primary Children’s were able to provide her with a new car seat to use to take her new baby girl home, but she said she started thinking about all the parents who may not know about fraudulent car seats.

“I never dreamed I would even experience something like that. I know fraud is everywhere, but on a car seat it was just pretty baffling,” she said.

Michelle Jamison, a community health program manager at Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital, said it can be hard to tell from an online picture whether a car seat may be counterfeit or not.

“Many parents think they found a great deal from a major retailer,” said Jamison. “Once they realize there’s a problem and try to return it, the site they got it from has already been taken down.”

To prevent these situations, Jamison said it is best to buy car seats in person or online directly from the manufacturer rather than from a third-party seller.

Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital shared with Nexstar’s KTVX what experts say parents can look out for to ensure their car seat is safe and meets federal safety standards.

According to experts, car seats must have a manufacturer label, which includes the name of the car seat, date of manufacture, branding, model number and expiration date.

This can be used to help register your car seat and allow manufacturers to notify you of any recalls. Counterfeit car seats don’t have the number and make it ineligible to register.

Car seats should also include warning labels written in both English and Spanish, which can be found on the back of the car seat and the area near where the baby’s head rests at the top of the seat.

Counterfeit car seats often will be missing these labels or they may be written in another language or have improper grammar.

Experts also share that a missing chest clip is a sign that a car seat isn’t safe.

“If you determine that you have a counterfeit car seat, stop using it immediately and contact the retailer to notify them that they sold a counterfeit car seat,” Jamison said. “You may be able to recover the cost of the seat if you used a credit card or purchased through a major retailer.”

Parents can also report it through STOPfakes.gov, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce via their contact form.

Parents should also submit a report through their state’s consumer protection agency. 

For help with evaluating or installing your car seat, find a technician near you.