ST. LOUIS -- A jury has awarded $8.5 million in a case where a faulty car seat failed to protect a 2-year-old child in a one-car accident, leaving him a paraplegic.

The St. Louis Circuit Court jury awarded the money Friday to Damon Steele, whose son, D.J. Steele, was riding in an Evenflo car seat in the accident Nov. 26, 1996, on Highway J near Fredericktown, Mo.

The Evenflo seat restrained children with a hard plastic shield rather than soft belts like the kind used in seat belt systems, said Randy Rhodes, attorney for Damon Steele.

Now 7, D.J. must use a catheter four times a day to relieve himself and will be paralyzed for the rest of his life, Rhodes said.

The jury's verdict made Evenflo and Patricia Mullins, the driver of the car, jointly liable for the $8.5 million. That means that if Mullins is unable to pay her share, Damon Steele's attorneys can seek payment from Evenflo, attorneys in the case said. Damon Steele now lives in San Diego.

Evenflo and most other child car seat manufacturers have stopped making the model, known as a booster with shield, though millions remain in use, Rhodes said.

The seats have left several children across the United States with torn spinal cords, paraplegics and quadriplegics, he said.

Evenflo Co. Inc., based in Vandalia, Ohio, argued that Mullins had failed to put D.J. Steele in the seat properly, and that even if she had done so, the child would have been injured by the severity of the crash.

Mullins, Damon Steele's former girlfriend, did not dispute that in her testimony, said her attorney, Larry Smith.

He said Mullins admitted that she was driving too fast, lost control of the car and went off the road and hit a tree. Mullins said that instead of placing the seat belt around the plastic shield as required, she simply placed the seat belt around the child, Smith said.

A spokesman for Evenflo said the company will appeal.