Car seats are often handed down from one child to another; especially those with a lifetime of 10 years, and this is perfectly safe. As a parent of two young children and a consumer of car seats, I have no issues with car seat expiry dates. Here are some of the most important:. Today, technology is moving faster than ever. The more and more tech shifts and improves, the more the standards change.
This is especially true in for Child Passenger Safety, an ever-advancing field of study. It may not even have the same safety standards! Knowing the car seat expiration date ensures that your seat technology is optimized and up-to-date, guaranteeing the safety of your little one. Read more: Laws and regulations on car seats in Singapore. The fact of the matter is: no product is made to last forever.
And that counts for car seats, too. Plastic may be sturdy, but it will break down and degrade over time. With continued use, the car seat belts can stretch out or the base can develop small fractures that can shatter the seat completely in the event of a crash. Most likely, your car seat stays in your car, and is exposed constantly to the harsh temperature of the sun when left out in the driveway.
Not to mention, the metal inside the seat can rust, as well. As mentioned in the first point, technology is constantly improving. This means that car seat safety stats can be improved with as new features, materials, or technologies are introduced. Say you buy a car seat that is rear-facing and will hold your child up to a certain weight, but then the weight guidelines change for a rear-facing seat. It may not be the law that you have to replace your seat, but the manufacturer may discontinue it and stop making replacement parts — not to mention, you no longer have the safest seat possible for your little one.
You may indeed be using a recent and unexpired hand-me-down car seat with no registration card in sight.
Manufacturers such as Britax and Graco publish this on their websites. Looking for information about when your specific car seat expires? Most brands have a page dedicated to safety information where they tell you how to find the expiration date.
Baby stores and big-box retailers think Target and Walmart often have car seat recycling or trade-in programs, so keep an eye out or call your local store to ask about their policy. But actually, there are important safety reasons behind limiting the life of your car seat. We recommend registering your car seat as well — and carefully following installation instructions to avoid compromising the safety of the seat.
After all, your baby is the most precious cargo your vehicle will ever transport. Is your child big enough for a booster seat? When deciding if your child is ready for a booster seat, height is more important than weight. At this fast rate, an airbag can deploy at a speed of miles per hour. There is no law, Minter learned, because there is nothing proving that age alone makes a car seat unsafe.
Minter reached out to numerous car seat manufacturers and retailers expecting that they would be able to point him to a specific study or testing protocol used to determine when and why car seats expire.
But he didn't get a clear answer. Most companies did not reply or declined to comment. He tells Motherly he was stunned that companies that use expiration dates on their products and marketing were unable to substantiate the claim that car seats degrade to the point of being unsafe after six years of existence.
Neither Minter or Motherly could uncover a specific study that is the basis of this rationale. The United States Highway Transportation Safety Administration says there is no regulation prohibiting parents from using an expired car seat, but on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website, parents are advised "The seat has labels stating date of manufacture and model number.
You need this information to find out if there is a recall on the car seat or if the seat is too old. What could happen if a car seat is "too old?
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