Thread: car seats

Can car seats ever really "expire" if they have never been in an accident?

My car seat/stroller combo "expires" in Oct but I never really understood that date?

Yes, and I would need to Google it to be sure exactly why, but my instinct is that there would be a worry about brittle plastic components. In addition, any car seat that is set to expire might be on a recall list. For mine, I just typed in the type of seat and "recall" into Google to be sure that they were OK.

I think they recommend only using a car seat for up to 5 years or less. I can't remember why exactly.

Originally Posted by triplespiral

Yes, and I would need to Google it to be sure exactly why, but my instinct is that there would be a worry about brittle plastic components. In addition, any car seat that is set to expire might be on a recall list. For mine, I just typed in the type of seat and "recall" into Google to be sure that they were OK.

Both of these are the reasons I have heard too. It stinks to buy a new one but its worth the safety aspect. I can't see replacing a stroller but definitely a car seat.

Someone was just telling me about this last week. Something about the heat in cars that compromises the plastic over time and makes the car seat less effective.

Here's an article I found on it:

http://babyproducts.about.com/b/2006...ats-expire.htm

In the article there's also a link to a video that shows a crash test of an expired car seat.

Yep, car seats definitely do expire, regardless of having been in an accident or not. It has to do with the plastic degrading over time, especially with exposure to temperature changes, direct sunlight, etc. (But that doesn't mean that a car seat stored in a basement for a few years is safe to use if it's passed the expiration date.)

The crash test video in the above link is a great one to watch. Our infant bucket seat expires in December, so we will be forking out $$ for a new one!

I'm glad you brought this up - I had no idea they "expired". We were planning on using our son's infant carseat/stroller combo (Graco brand) - it's from May 2007...I wonder if it is still okay to use? I guess I should look that up.

Originally Posted by I'm_a_pepper

I'm glad you brought this up - I had no idea they "expired". We were planning on using our son's infant carseat/stroller combo (Graco brand) - it's from May 2007...I wonder if it is still okay to use? I guess I should look that up.

In that article I posted it said they are good 6 years from the date of manufacture. So even if you bought it 4 years ago, it could have sat on the shelf much longer. And the date *should* be somewhere on the car seat. If not, maybe you could look it up online some kind of way?

Originally Posted by I'm_a_pepper

I'm glad you brought this up - I had no idea they "expired". We were planning on using our son's infant carseat/stroller combo (Graco brand) - it's from May 2007...I wonder if it is still okay to use? I guess I should look that up.

My son was born in April 2007 and it expires in December. If you flip over the seat, it probably says it on the bottom.

I gave mine to my cousin who had her baby 2 weeks ago. By December, she will almost be in a bigger seat anyway and we just bought a new one for this new baby.