What happens if my car seat is expired

As for the rest of the Canadian list, the reasons listed do not apply to every car seat or situation. A family that is considering reusing their own car seat for a second or third child would know if it has ever been in a collision and how it was stored. The parents would know how often the car seat was cleaned and would either have the instruction manual or access to an online version.

As we've noted, government agencies in the United States and Canada do discourage parents from using expired car seats, and in these countries it is common for used car seats to be shredded or sent to the landfill, expired or not.

But in some other countries, the use of used car seats is viewed as perfectly acceptable and is actually encouraged. Sweden has a remarkably low rate of child fatalities related to vehicles. The country is very seriously trying to reduce the rate to zero, and yet the director of traffic safety and sustainability at the Swedish Transport Administration, Maria Krafft, has publicly stated that used car seats are fine to use.

Manufacturers of child restraints and other safety equipment such as bicycle and motorcycle helmets tell their customers to buy a new product after a certain period of time, often relatively short. We can't see any evidence to justify that from what we have seen in real-world crashes. Kullgren went on to say that he has access to car seats that are over 20 years old and has not seen any degradation in the plastic.

In an era when parents are extremely concerned about reducing consumption and carbon footprints, should so many car seats be thrown away, especially when there are parents struggling to afford car seats in the first place? Perhaps it is time for parents to consider not throwing away or recycling their car seats , but passing them on to another parent.

The image below has the month clock face circled with the numbers 1 to 12 and an arrow pointing to number 8.

This means the car seat was manufactured in August. Step two: Find out the day of manufacture. The image below has the day clock face circled with a few numbers exposed at intervals. The arrow is between 25 and 30 is pointing to 27, meaning the manufacture day is the 27 th day of the month. So far, we can tell this car seat was manufactured on 27 August. Step three: Find out the manufacture year. The image below has the year clock face circled with numbers 14 to But I believe in giving the benefit of the doubt.

So I went back to Target to ask if it could offer another source for its claims about the dangers of used and expired car seats. The Target spokeswoman suggested that I read a Consumer Reports article. So I reached out to Consumer Reports to see if they had any data substantiating car seat expirations.

They never responded. Sweden has some of the best and strictest child safety seat laws in the world. I figured that if anybody could give me an honest, data-driven answer to the question of whether used and expired child safety seats are dangerous, it would be a Swedish regulator. So I contacted Maria Krafft, the director of traffic safety and sustainability at the Swedish Transport Administration, who years ago had blogged in favor of used car seats and where to buy good ones in Stockholm.

During the early s, Folksam even manufactured its own line of child safety seats. If used car seats are a hazard, Professor Kullgren would know. He shared his thoughts via email:. We have the same experience in Sweden. Manufacturers of child restraints and other safety equipment such as bicycle and motorcycle helmets tell their customers to buy a new product after a certain period of time, often relatively short. We still have some seats stored at Folksam that have been used.

We have not seen any changes or problems with the plastic material in those seats for this 20—30 year period of time. He also noted that seat designs are always improving, so a consumer buying a newer seat is likely getting a safer seat. Instead of destroying , used seats over the years, Target could have safely marketed them to emerging markets.