UTICA - A Utica family is feeling pretty lucky after a car-seat helps keep their toddler safe...just minutes after it is installed.

"The car just did this to me," said three year old Anaiya, as she showed with her body how she bumped her head in a car accident over the weekend.

A scary moment for the toddler, but this is one lucky girl.

"We were hit," said Ella McFarlane, Anaiya's grandmother. "A truck backed into us and dragged us. If she wasn't in the proper seat belts, the emergency room said it would be a lot more worse."

Just minutes before the accident, Anaiya's grandmother pulled into a child safety program at the Maynard Fire Department and left with an updated seat - a seat that would ultimately protect the child from harm.

"I didn't know my car seat was deformed, but when we got there it wasn't in the standards to protect her," McFarlane said. "So they took it out and gave us a brand new one."

The program not only replaces improper seats. It teaches parents how to properly install them.

McFarlane says she can't even begin to grasp the irony of the day.

"We were just lucky all the way around that she was in that properly," MacFarlane said. "Because of that car seat, it wasn't serious."

But at little Anaiya's age, understanding is simple.

"They gave me a car seat because they wanted to save me," she said.

And as Anaiya enjoys a different kind of ride, both grandma and granddaughter are grateful for their run-in with the law.

"I would like to say thank you to the officer," little Aniaya said.

"I would like to thank all the troopers and officers who took the time to make sure the car seat was in correct," McFarlane said. "Anaiya really scored this time."

If you would like to get your car seats checked, you can call the state troopers barracks in Oneida at 315-366-6000 or Marcy at 315-736-0122.