A removable car seat cover for a car seat having an integral side airbag including a side panel having a predetermined pre-weakened failure zone that is pretreated by controlled laser ablation of the side panel. The pre-weakened failure zone is located at or adjacent to an airbag deployment area of a car seat when the car seat cover is installed on the car seat, and is in the form of an elongate strip extending along the side panel. The pre-weakened failure zone has a known bursting strength to thereby facilitate reliable deployment of the side airbag from the car seat as a result of tearing of the pre-weakened zone when the removable car seat cover is installed thereon.