# Car Seat expiration date*update*



## SaoirseC (Jul 17, 2009)

Alright, so DS's car seat is set to expire 2010. I brought this up to DH in conversation, as in "I'm looking at new car seats to buy because this one is set to expire." He was not happy, and essentially believes that car seat expiration dates are just a regulatory ploy to get us to buy more car seats. Does anyone have any proof I could show him which would convince him that car seats are much more likely to fail past the expiration date? We don't usually follow recommendations unless we have proof that those recommendations are actually correct, so I don't know why this area would be any different. So, can anyone help me?


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## SaoirseC (Jul 17, 2009)

Interesting, I was looking for ammo to use in favor of replacing the car seat, but found this instead:
"...Taken at face value, the expiration interval (ranging from 5 to 8 years, depending on the manufacturer) is from the date of manufacture, which is what governs the labeling, certification, and other rules that apply. Whether to continue to use an "expired" CR is a judgment call, depending on the alternatives. *It will work as well as before, but it is important to know what regulations and warnings may have changed and the risks involved.* It is also important to take the expiration date into account when purchasing a CR that may have been manufactured several months or even a year or more before. "

http://www.carseat.org/Technical/tec...te.htm#expdate


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## Mom2M (Sep 23, 2006)

That is very interesting!


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## SaoirseC (Jul 17, 2009)

Here's another one:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/bu...erland&emc=rss

" Graco Children's Products, one of the largest manufacturers of child restraint seats, which includes everything from newborn carriers to boosters for 6-year-olds, says it does recommend throwing out a car seat after seven years or so.

That is not because of danger that the plastic is degenerating, said David Galambos, compliance and safety manager for child safety systems with Graco, a unit of Newell Rubbermaid.

"It's not as if you'll hit the expiration date and the plastic will become weak," he said. "The plastic is good for at least 10 years. But regulations and standards are constantly changing."

OTOH, the car seat in question is the type with a shield. It is not a 5pt harness, but rather a 3pt. That makes me a bit nervous. I've also read )quite recently) that the shield itself is considered a possible danger because baby's head could fly forward and impact the shield, causing head trauma. Then again, you would have to have a pretty significant rear-impact for that to occur.

Still looking for more info...please feel free to chime in!!


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## TheGirls (Jan 8, 2007)

If it is an overhead sheild model I would stop using it immediately just based on that. Those are not safe at all, IMO, and shouldn't be allowed to be sold anymore (there's still one or two out there, but not very many). They don't get the belts tight enough, don't have a 5pt harness, and basically give the kid something to run into. There are lots of reasonably priced, good carseats out there. How big is the kid in question?


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## TheGirls (Jan 8, 2007)

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/fivepointshield.aspx
http://babyproducts.about.com/od/car...eadshields.htm


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## goodheartedmama (Feb 1, 2007)

I think it's very well worth the peace of mind knowing your child is safe to spend $100+/- to replace an expired seat. It may keep her safe in an accident or it may not--do you really want her to be the child to find out?


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

I would never allow my kids to ride in a shield seat. Expired or brand new. Absolutely not safe.

Personally I don't think I'd be comfortable with an expired seat. Among other things- *IF* you were in an accident, and IF your child was hurt, there's a decent chance that no insurance (car or health) would cover injuries. That's a pretty expensive risk to take.

-Angela


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## MCatLvrMom2A&X (Nov 18, 2004)

As plastic ages it weakens that is a fact. I think they base expiration dates on the deterioration of the plastic in the seat so I think it is important to pay attention to the exp. date because of that.


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## MacKinnon (Jun 15, 2004)

This often becomes a rather difficult subject- it seems that the proof of why they expire simply doesn't seem convincing to some people, and others feel quite strongly there is enough evidence- and the two points just simply don't seem to agree. Personally, as a Mom and a car seat tech, knowing that in other forms plastic degrades over time, having seen seats in real life that have failed, knowing what safety standards have changed, etc. I am not comfortable continuing to use a seat beyond it's expiration, nor would I ever recommend that parents do so. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association and all child restraint manufacturers ALL recommend discontinuation of restraints after their expiration- typically 6 years from manufacture. This is recommended for a variety of reasons, most of which have been stated- metal and plastic parts become damaged and degrade, manufacturers stop providing replacement parts and pieces, they also stop crash testing them against current standards, national standards change, parents loose parts and pieces, etc.

I also would not use a 3 point over the head shield seat, expired or not. I'm not comfortable with a 3-point harness providing adequate protection (vs a 5 point) and the shields have mostly been discontinued. The plastic shield proved to be causing more harm than good, as children would hit their heads on it. Most of these seats had fairly low top slots, and a 40lb limit.

Best of luck as you make your decision!


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## SaoirseC (Jul 17, 2009)

Thanks for the responses.
To those of you saying essentially "because it's recommended" or "isn't your kid worth $x", thanks for taking the time to respond but that's not really helpful. I'm looking for some sort of proof, crash tests, etc. (I could find *one* crash test of a 10 year old car seat, but nothing newer, and one doesn't really make a study). FWIW, if you read one of the links that I posted, an official spokesperson from Graco stated that the 6-yr expiration is not due to degradation of parts (not because the plastic is wearing out, etc.) but because laws change over time and an older car seat might not have the right labeling or follow current regulations. The expiration dates started because some car seats didn't have air bag warnings. He stated that the 10 year mark is when they begin to see degradation.

Anyway, if it was just for the expiration date, I would probably stick with the car seat. But after finding out about the shield, I definitely want to replace the car seat immediately. Feel free to spam me with more *proof* that the overhead shield is dangerous (esp. for such a small baby- he's 3 weeks old) so I can convince my husband (FWIW, I'm getting a new car seat one way or another, the difference is how irritated DH will be about it).

Thanks.


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

Quote:

Tray shields usually are not covered with energy-absorbing padding to protect the head if it hits the shield. This contact is more likely with a shorter child and a loose harness. In a test series with a 12-month-size dummy, peak head acceleration was 35% higher for tray shield restraints than for 5-point harnesses. At least one child (19 lb) is known to have received a fatal head injury from contact with a tray shield.

Quote:

Tray-shield and t-shield seats simply cannot restrain a child as snugly as a five-point harness. Current motor vehicle safety standards require a "lap restraint" for all car seats. On tray- and t-shield seats, the shield acts as the lap portion of the restraint. However, these shields do not fasten snugly across a child's pelvis as a five-point harness does, and they do not adjust to the contours of the child's body. This allows more forward and side to side movement than a five-point harness does - both before and during a crash. The tray-shield generally sits at chest level, several inches away from the child.
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/fivepointshield.aspx


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

Now that I am done with dinner







--

There is not enough research out there to conclude that using a car seat 6 years and 1 day past it's date of manufacture if dangerous. Nothing tells us the seat will spontaneously stop offering protection to the child. Just like there is no solid proof that harnessing a 40 pound 5 year old is any safer than the same child in a booster. It's one of those gray areas. However, we DO know that plastic does deteriorate over time. Manufacturers have run many, many tests on car seat webbing and we know that the harness webbing starts to weaken over time, especially when exposed to normal child-related liquids like juice, soda, water, urine and stomach acid (from vomit). Also, ten years ago car seats had dismally low height and weight capacities--they had a 20 or 22 pound rear-facing weight limit (including convertibles) and low top slots. Compare that to today's seats that have 45 pound rear-facing weight limits, energy-absorbing rip-stitch tethers, EPS foam, rebound control, and vastly improved side-impact protection and there's no doubt which is the safer seat.

As far as the over-head shield, technically it's passed the same tests as a 5-point harness, and technically it's an appropriate seat for a child who fits in it properly. However, they have 10" bottom slots, which means it's extremely unlikely that a newborn fits in it, and they also have the shield directly in the baby's face. A OHS seat is never, ever recommended for a small infant. There is nothing holding the baby's body away from the shield, and in a crash the baby's head is going straight into the shield.


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## Luke's mama (Sep 29, 2009)

FWIW, I was discussing this issue with my brother, who is an engineer with BS, MA from MIT and PhD from Berkeley, and he told me that engineers operate by "the rule of three": this means that if they tell you a car seat is good for 5 yrs, the plastic is really actually good for 3 times longer (15 yrs), but once it hits the 15 yr mark, it is seriously going to degrade, no doubt about it. They use the rule of three to factor the amount of time people will go over guarantees, hoping that such a dramatic amount of difference between actual degradation and what manufacturers say will account for the wiggle room people take in going past the recommended amount of time.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Also, I think you've made the point on safety features. The seat you're using is known to be terribly unsafe now- but it was legal and widely used 6 years ago. Research changes things QUICKLY in fields like this. If nothing else we KNOW rear facing is much much safer than forward facing. A seat just over 2 years old is going to have a MAXIMUM rf weight limit of 33 lbs. There are now seats on the market to rear face to 45 lbs. So a 33lb seat is not expired, but a 34 lb child is MUCH safer in a newer seat just because they can continue to rear face.

-Angela


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## leighi123 (Nov 14, 2007)

Show him this:


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## Mommybree (Jul 27, 2007)

Britax posted this info about expirations on their official Facebook page:

I see that there are a lot of questions about car seat expiration dates; maybe this can provide more clarification:

Why do car seats have expiration dates?

There are several reasons why car seats have expiration dates:

1. The materials that compose the seat (plastics, fabrics, webbing, etc.) all degrade over a period of time due to environmental factors, such as sunlight and heat.

2. Car seat manufacturers have the ability to perform "life cycle testing" in an environmental chamber. This chamber allows us to perform tests replicating an expected life span of the seat. Several factors come into play during this life span testing, including the materials the seat is made from, the process by which the seat was made, the design of the seat, and the size and weight of the child using the seat. Without an expiration date, a car seat would be good forever; however, it would be impossible for a car seat manufacturer to test a seat and guarantee that it will work forever.

3. A car seat has to meet government standards that are in place at the time the seat is manufactured. These safety standards are constantly changing as new research is conducted and new technologies are developed - in fact, they've changed multiple times in the past few years. Therefore, a seat that was manufactured 10 years ago and met the government's requirements 10 years ago may not meet the safety standards that we have in place today. A car seat that is manufactured with reasonably current technology will provide the best level of safety available.

Why do different car seats have different expiration dates?

The type of materials used in a car seat not only affect the seat's expiration date, they also affect how the seat will perform in a crash. Depending on factors such as the type of car seat, the design of the seat, how the seat will be installed, and the weight capacity of the seat, different materials will perform better than others during a crash test. At Britax, our goal is to keep your child as safe as possible during a crash - this means that some of our seats are constructed with different materials that have different expiration dates. During our product development process, the materials used to create the seat are adjusted to achieve the best crash test performance possible for that particular seat.


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## SaoirseC (Jul 17, 2009)

Thanks for the responses. DH till wasn't convinced about the expiration date, but when I expressed concerns about the design, he agreed.







So we will be purchasing a new car seat very very soon (today or tomorrow), without causing any tension between us.


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## an_aurora (Jun 2, 2006)

Great news


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## mummamilk (Jul 15, 2003)

I tend to get on my soapbox about carseats. I'll give you my experience. I have been in 3 car accidents. In the 3rd accident DD was rearfacing in a baby bucket type seat it was 6-7 years old. The seat cracked on impact when we were rear-ended she was behind the driver's seat. The sound of the impact is something I will never forget. Children are safest rear facing. I would highly recommend a bucket that goes up to 30lbs. It is easiest to get the straps secure when the seat fits the child best. I still have my 15 month old rear facing in a Chicco infant seat. He is going to stay in it until he is too big. My 10 year old is still in a booster. There are risks I will not take. It is not just the plastic the straps start to degrade especially the more often they are washed.


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## claddaghmom (May 30, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SaoirseC* 
Thanks for the responses. DH till wasn't convinced about the expiration date, but when I expressed concerns about the design, he agreed.







So we will be purchasing a new car seat very very soon (today or tomorrow), without causing any tension between us.









Don't know age/size but check your Target if your child fits in a Britax roundabout...they are $49 on clearance...


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