I trashed my favorite car seat this morning

Splash

New member
And you'll hit me when you find out which one it was...

An Alpha Omega.

We bought it 4ish years ago. We were fostering at the time, and an all in one seemed like the best way to go. We never used it as a booster, thankfully. But I've used it for lots of kids, in lots of cars, and never had a problem. It's always been easy to install and use, and I LOVED the puzzle buckle.

We took it out of the shed when my SIL wrecked, thinking we would give it to Pam to take up there for a temporary seat. But, even though it had been sealed in a plastic bag in the shed, it still grew mold on it. Damn Florida. So it sat on the back porch since then, waiting to be trashed.

I could have washed the cover. I probably could have cleaned the straps safely. Or ordered new straps. But, it was time to go. I thought of giving it to Pam to keep in her car for Zachary, but I really don't want to have anything to do with their car seat problems anymore. And really, Charlie will NEVER use it. And I didn't want to give it to someone, because the lower anchor straps no longer worked (I think the adjuster died), and the tether was the horrible o ring tether that Cosco used to use, and it had the puzzle buckle that for some reason people had problems with, and the stupid "no top harness slot" rule, and it expires in 2 years anyway. So, seeing as how it was begging to be misused, I just chucked it.

I cut up the straps and cut off the tether and sliced the fabric for good measure, and chucked it in the garbage can this morning (our trash comes early) covered with a bag of used cat litter.

It was one of my favorites, the one I hung on to for so long when I gave everything away (even my Marathons!) because I liked it so much. And now, it's gone.

Farewell, car seat friend. You will be missed.
 
ADS

AdventureMom

Senior Community Member
Good for you, Splash... ;) You did the right thing - what if you had given it to someone who gave it to someone else who used to until their child outgrew it then handed it down again, etc, etc...
 

Morganthe

New member
Farewell, car seat friend. You will be missed.


Awwwww :( Too bad you couldn't give it the "Viking Burial at sea" tribute to mourn its loss in a glorious fashion. ;)


But you did the right thing. It was time. Now its no longer suffering
Hope the cliches make you feel better.
:)
 

Tara

New member
Oh man, now I'm really scared. You mourning like this over an AO and I have a beloved Britax RA soon to depart. Eek! I'm going to be a WRECK!! LOL
And then..oh then...a FPSE as well. **2** beloved seats in one year, bought 2 years apart *sniff*

Anywho...
Yes, you did the right thing. It was its time *nodding*
 

Alicia-N-2SafeBugs

Senior Community Member
Rest in Peace, Dear AO.

It's going to be very emotional for me to trash our RA when it expires in 2008. Both of my kids have used it and it's like part of the family!
 

Morganthe

New member
It just came to me as I was reading this thread, I'll be facing this sad situation too soon also. :(
DD WILL outgrow the Maxi Cosi within the next 6 months (maybe sooner) since she's consistently in the 95% for height. The only reason she still fits is that she is more leg than torso at 40 1/4" inches tall. No more kids on the way. There's no DOM on it that's easy to see on it, but I bought it new in 2004, so I"m not worried for my own daughter. It's Euro specs and technically not legal. But Durn it, It's an excellent car seat. I'll hate to destroy it, but I can't ethically pass it along to someone else here in the US. :(
 
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didymama

New member
you have the best ways of trashing seats!! i LOVE that puzzle buckle too! i had an AOE and loved it too, but alas all good things come to an end.
 

sirrahn

Active member
i LOVE that puzzle buckle too! i had an AOE and loved it too, but alas all good things come to an end.

People liked that buckle?? LOL! I was *so* happy when Cosco quit making it and I could order a regular one for my AOE. I thought it was the worst designed thing ever!

Maybe if it would have stayed together easily or didn't constantly lock up and refuse to click until you took the tongues out and pushed the button down to reset it.....

I had a friend who drove to my house with her son in his Cosco combo seat that had that buckle with only the chest clip fastened b/c she couldn't get it to cooperate. I "fixed" it for her (it just needed to be reset), but yikes!
 

stayinhomewithmy6

Senior Community Member
I always give my seats away when they can still be used for a couple of years. That way I feel like they're going to fulfill their purpose in life and keep yet another child safe for a while. Also, that way, I don't have to go through trashing my favorite seats! Although, it's hard to trust that the people I give them away to will actually pay attention to the expiration date and will trash it when it needs to be done, even though I always point it out to them when I give it to them. I feel for all of you, though! It can't be an easy thing to do to slice up your favorite car seat and toss it in a dumpster!
 

Splash

New member
If it was any other seat, I probably would have given it away. But because this one is SO hard to use correctly (unless you actually read the manual, which very few people do), coupled with the impossible tether, and the fact that it needed a new harness anyway (probably), I figured it was just better to let it die a quiet death. Besides, I'm trying to get down to a more reasonable amount of seats. I've given away most of my give aways (left over from the last big car seat sale at Wal-Mart) and now only have one real "spare" for Charlie (Triumph), so it was for the best.
 

southpawboston

New member
People liked that buckle?? LOL! I was *so* happy when Cosco quit making it and I could order a regular one for my AOE. I thought it was the worst designed thing ever!

Maybe if it would have stayed together easily or didn't constantly lock up and refuse to click until you took the tongues out and pushed the button down to reset it.....

I had a friend who drove to my house with her son in his Cosco combo seat that had that buckle with only the chest clip fastened b/c she couldn't get it to cooperate. I "fixed" it for her (it just needed to be reset), but yikes!

the puzzle buckle is no longer even allowed on US-spec seats... they must, according to specification, each be able to click into the buckle independently. i don't know why?
 

Splash

New member
That's not correct. A few companies still make puzzle buckles quite legally. People just don't like them. I, on the other hand, love them.
 

stayinhomewithmy6

Senior Community Member
When I was shopping for an Intera in the fall, most of them had puzzle buckles, so they are definitely still allowed in the US. My Touriva has a puzzle buckle and I have personal issues with it that I can't really describe! :p It works just fine, but I just don't like it! The Intera's with the puzzle buckles were all on sale for $100 at the time. I paid an extra $40 for mine just to get the regular buckle! :eek:
 

sirrahn

Active member
That's not correct. A few companies still make puzzle buckles quite legally. People just don't like them. I, on the other hand, love them.

My Latch-loc has a puzzle buckle, and I didn't mind that one at all. I haven't looked recently (mine is almost 2 yrs old) , but I assume?? they're still using it on their seats.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
I find demolishing carseats to be a rather cathartic method of goodbye :cool:

P.S. the only reason I hate puzzle buckles is that every kid I sat in one could EASILY escape at very young ages!
 

strollerfreak

Senior Community Member
Yeah...2008 isn't going to be a pretty year for our carseat family either...

Both my Futura's will expire, my puzzle buckle non-LATCH only carseat that has actually stuck around it's entire life Roundabout will expire, my Stay in View will expire, and my FPSE will expire.

It will be a very, very sad year.:(
 

Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
Yeah...2008 isn't going to be a pretty year for our carseat family either...

Both my Futura's will expire, my puzzle buckle non-LATCH only carseat that has actually stuck around it's entire life Roundabout will expire, my Stay in View will expire, and my FPSE will expire.

It will be a very, very sad year.:(

LOL! While your wallet may not like it, I think it would be fun to buy all new seats! :)
 

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