Dropped car seat down stairs - help, what to do?!

[CatsMcGoo]

I'm so annoyed with myself! Baby is soon to outgrow current baby car seat and our brand new baby-to-child one arrived today. We live in a first floor flat and I thought I could just about manage to get it up the stairs myself...now I've dropped the bloody thing down a whole flight of stairs.
I can't bear the thought of dumping it and re-buying - both the cost and the wastefulness! Obviously can't return it as if I'm thinking it's not safe for my child then it's not safe for anyone else's either. It would probably be fine to use but will I always have the nagging 'what if...'?
It was still in the original packaging, does that make a difference? They must get chucked around a bit when shipping anyway...It was a standard size flight of carpeted stairs.
What would you do?

I very much doubt it has sustained serious damage after bouncing down a few stairs, especially if it was still in the box. The forces involved will be tiny compared to a car crash. If you have ever seen couriers at work, it will likely have received far greater bashing around during the delivery process.

Is the box damaged? If so can you say to the supplier it appears to have been damaged in transit?

I’m very sure that it got tossed around more than that since it left the manufacturer. Honestly, I wouldn’t even think about it. I’m sure it’s fine.

If the box looks undamaged I’d just use it I would imagine they get thrown about a lot in transit , it’s not like you threw it off a balcony or something .

Both the box and the car seat appear undamaged so I think you are all right, it will be fine! My DH also agrees with you
Thanks all! Phew!

If it was in the box, it will be fine. I used to work in a baby goods shop and people would frequently go to the top of a ladder to reach car seat boxes at the top of shelves in the stock room and then throw/drop the box to the floor from that height (because they are too unwieldy to carry while climbing down a ladder). I was too chicken and would ask a colleague to assist and we'd pass them to each other! The thrown ones were always fine though. I appreciate you can't always see damage, but it happened so frequently that if it was damaging then you'd see some signs in some of the seats over time.

If it was the car seat itself falling down a full storey of concrete stairs then I'd be much more wary because it's more likely it would have got damaged. But boxed on carpeted stairs, I think it will be fine.