leeway in expiration date???

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
I ask because we have a seat, an evenflo vision. The DOM is oct 5, 2006, written on the seat.
So, going by that, and the fact their seats are goiod for 7 years, per them, the seat should be good until oct 5, 2013, right?
Well, printed ON the seat, actually sort of burned into the plastic, it says "do not use after December, 2013.
So, since they say i can, I could use the seat past oct 2013, and until Dec 2013, right? I know it's only a 2 month window, and i might not even have the seat then, but it's just something i think about when my mind wanders, LOL!
 
ADS

UlrikeDG

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
If they say you can use it until Dec '13, and there are no other prohibiting factors (like visible damage or recalls), you're fine.

I'm not sure why the discrepency is there. One thing to double check is whether that DOM is the actually date of manufacture, or if it's the DOM for just that particular component. Sometimes things like tether straps will have different dates from the seat itself, which is what actually counts.
 

UlrikeDG

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
So, if you buy one that was mfger'ed in Jan, you get an extra year of use out of it? Very interesting.
 

AdventureMom

Senior Community Member
My guess is that the stamp on the plastic is a back-up expiration date in case the paper label comes off. It probably costs alot less to change that plastic stamp out once a year than every month... :)
 

Jewels

Senior Community Member
My guess is that the stamp on the plastic is a back-up expiration date in case the paper label comes off. It probably costs alot less to change that plastic stamp out once a year than every month... :)

My seats don't have a paper label with the expiration date on it. I have only ever seen it stamped into the plastic.
 

AdventureMom

Senior Community Member
My seats don't have a paper label with the expiration date on it. I have only ever seen it stamped into the plastic.

Oh, most don't have the expiration date on the paper label, just the DOM. But from that, one can calculate the expiration date. I think for safety purposes, they stamp the expiration year into the plastic in case the paper DOM/manufacturer/model label comes off which would prevent anyone from knowing when to stop using that seat... :) I'm just guessing at the reason for a "generic" date being stamped into the plastic, BTW.
 

southpawboston

New member
My guess is that the stamp on the plastic is a back-up expiration date in case the paper label comes off. It probably costs alot less to change that plastic stamp out once a year than every month... :)

that makes the most logical sense! they would otherwise have to change the casting mold every month!
 

southpawboston

New member
I noticed that the seats i have all say dec. is the extra year safe?

if that's what's stamped there, then yes. remember that the six or seven year window of valid use is a conservative limit agreed upon by the whole industry, and this takes into account the worst case scenarios for degradation of the carseat materials (extreme temps, moisture, UV rays, etc). very few carseat users will experience those environmental extremes that those expiration dates must account for.
 

Dillipop

Well-known member
Graco is conservative the other way. My safeseat was manufactured in 2/2006 and expiration is 12/2012. They don't give me the extra 2 months to make it the full 6 years.
 

UlrikeDG

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Graco is conservative the other way. My safeseat was manufactured in 2/2006 and expiration is 12/2012. They don't give me the extra 2 months to make it the full 6 years.

:confused: 2/2012 would be 6 years. 2/20013 would be 7. So, you get an "extra" 10 months if Graco says their products can be used for 6 years.
 

CrabbyBunchX3

New member
does it make sense for my safety 1st intera to have an 8year life span?
manufactured 08/12/04
stamped on back do not use after dec 2012
 
Last edited:

DallasMommies

New member
Jessica, I would go by the stamped date.

FWIW, I work for an injection molding plastic company. Different types of plastics will have different "shelf lives." The costs of plastic has been increasing with the cost of oil, so many companies are looking into alternative plastic resins or blends for their existing products - which could result in longer or shorter usable time frame for the end product (such as your carseat).
 

Tara

New member
So does this mean with my Roundabout due to expire (going by DOM) June of this year (early to mid month) I could "technically" go ahead and wait for that highly anticipated Recaro to come out later that month or the next (provided all goes well and it IS released at that time) ?? Is this what you're telling me? That'd I'd be "safe" to use an "expired" seat for a couple more months while I wait on the one I really want?? Hmm

Because, just to be honest, I was seriously thinking about this. It would only be for a couple of months, max.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
So, if you buy one that was mfger'ed in Jan, you get an extra year of use out of it? Very interesting.

Yeah, but they've been known to muck up in January and some people end up getting almost a year's less use out of it because they forgot to change the year forward on the date stamp :p

Century and Evenflo have always been the December, 6ish years from now, expiration crowd :cool:
 

Colleen

New member
Tara, I (not a tech, just think I'am :p ) would be ok using a seat for a few months past its date. They dont magically disintergrate the day the expire, but I definitly wouldn't go over (9ish) months expired.
 

bobandjess99

Senior Community Member
Tara, I (not a tech, just think I'am :p ) would be ok using a seat for a few months past its date. They dont magically disintergrate the day the expire, but I definitly wouldn't go over (9ish) months expired.


This seems reasonable to me. It's not like the seat is perfectly fine one day and then completely unsafe the next.....for a very short time, it seems quite reasonable that you could use a seat past it's date.....in the overal lifespan of a carseat, 4-8 weeks immediately after the limit is NOT going to be the difference between perfectly safe and disintegration, you know? I'm SURE the manufactirers have put in a nice little "padding" on their time limits.....


I might make an excpeiton to this if you live in a particularly tough climate and/or you feel for any reason you carseat has been exposed to greater than average environmental stresses.
 

Colleen

New member
I feel the same way about them putting a little "padding" and being conservative with the dates to cover their own. The very longest I'd go is 1 year over and that would have to be just as a spare seat.
 

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