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As a parent, you know that properly installing and strapping your child into his or her car seat can be lifesaving in the event of an accident, but one mom’s eye-opening story warns parents not to forget about strap covers, head rests and other car seat accessories that can put your baby at risk.Hannah Mckinney Pope was riding with her 2-month-old girl Robin Pope when a car accident occurred, causing her van to flip, back to front, twice. Pope told GoodHousekeeping.com that a car seat instructor at her child's health care provider informed her that even though she had the car seat set up to standards, because of the force that hit the vehicle, the sheepskin seatbelt strap covers quickly slid against her daughter's shirt, causing her to fly out of the seat. “Please please please people DO NOT put things on a car seat that did not come that way from the manufacturer. Plus anything on a car seat in a accident voids the warranty!” she wrote in her Facebook post. Her daughter suffered a hairline fracture in her arm and a few cuts, but miraculously did not sustain any more serious injuries. “We had to learn the hard way and I thank God every day that he had his hands on her! They may look cute and it may be soft but for your child’s safety don’t do it."According to Car Seats for the Little Ones, a group of child passenger safety technicians, parents should always be wary of the car accessories they use. "There is no way to know how a mirror, harness pads, seat protector, or anything else that doesn’t come with the seat will change how it performs during a crash," they explain on their website. "There’s no crash test performance standard or benchmark for testing, so while companies do claim to test items like harness pads or inserts, we just don’t know which seats are being tested with which items, or how, and what the results of the tests were."Selina Tedesco, a product analysis in the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Media and Tech lab, says that stories like this are a good warning to parents to really pay attention to the accessories they are buying for any children’s safety product.“You want to use a product so critical to safety, such as a car seat, exactly as a manufacturer recommends," she explains. "Bringing any third party accessories into the mix can change how the product functions and therefore pose a risk to the child's safety. Unless it comes with your car seat or is intended for your specific car seat model by the manufacturer, avoid using it."In terms of voiding your car seat’s warranty, Tedesco says that you will need to check with the car seat’s manufacturer directly (while you’re at it, be sure to register your product so you're notified in the event of a recall), but at the end of the day, the warranty should always come second to your child’s wellbeing.If you are ever concerned about the safety of your child’s car seat (or even if you just want a second set of eyes to look at it in your car), you can visit car-seat inspection site where a professional will take a look at your setup. You can find a service near you by visiting nhtsa.gov/carseatinspection.For more on car seat safety, watch the video above.