There is a burn hole in my barely used Livia Frontier!

**agave** · 03-31-2012, 05:10 PM

I let my MIL use it when I decided to re-RF my 3 yr old. Now that she's FF full time She's moving back into the frontier I noticed a &@$*# hole in the seat and a bunch of ash in the creases. I'm so wishing I'd come up with an excuse to take it home on the last visit when I realized that she smoked in the car. It still looked good then. I haven't said anything to her yet but I don't think I can let this one by without saying something. I know when N notices it she's going to be upset too.

**Car-Seat.Org** · 03-31-2012 05:10 PM

**Phineasmama** · 03-31-2012, 05:15 PM

I would be SO, so freakin pissed. She owes you $70 for a new cover

**agave** · 03-31-2012, 05:22 PM

Yeh, I'm fuming. I knew I'd have to wash the cover and not happy about it but was going to bite my tongue anyway. Now there is a hole in the cover, I'm sure my husband won't really see the problem and not want me to say anything.

**lovemy2kidstw** · 03-31-2012, 05:32 PM

I'd be pi$$Ed too!! Tell her she owes you a new cover. They aren't $70. They are $90 + shipping :/

**newyorkDOC** · 03-31-2012, 05:34 PM

There's also the third hand smoke issue. I'd never want my DD on that cover.

**An Aurora** · 03-31-2012, 05:37 PM

Ewww!

**lovemy2kidstw** · 03-31-2012, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by newyorkDOC

There's also the third hand smoke issue. I'd never want my DD on that cover.

Agreed! I had to leave DS's seat in my moms vehicle for a night & I told her if she smoked around it I'd be mad & she'd be buying me a new seat. She didn't smoke around it. You can't get that smell out of stuff no matter how many times you wash it

**2BunniesMommy** · 03-31-2012, 05:47 PM

I also would be pissed and would want her to buy a new cover.

One of my sisters is a smoker. She got a new to her car in June and was planning not to smoke in it, but she does now. She currently has DD1's Red Rock FR85 in her car because she is taking her granddaughter to Az with her tomorrow and didn't want her in a backless booster like she normally is. I wasn't worried about smoke at all at first because the plan was she'd come over tomorrow night for me to adjust the seat and install it.

Then she had her granddaugther Wed evening and asked if we could do it then so it wouldn't be a last minute getting ready to leave thing. No problem. But, with the change and knowing she'd be driving around town by herself, I did feel the need to tell her not to smoke with it in the car. She said "I know" and I know she knows because she knows how I am about, but I still had to say it just to be safe. If she does anyway, which I really don't think she would...I will not be happy.

**Little Ps Mama** · 03-31-2012, 06:37 PM

Ugh, I'd be livid! She def owes you a new cover! I wouldn't use a cover that even smelled like smoke, burn hole aside. Disgusting.

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**StillThankful** · 03-31-2012, 06:49 PM

In "Livia," Change that "a" to a "d." That's what I would be. Could she not have put the cigarette down when handling the seat?

**MommyShannon** · 03-31-2012, 09:24 PM

I'd have to toss it. Don't the straps stink too? I can't imagine how you'd ever get the smell out of the straps even if you can get it out of the cover. My kids would never be ok with it not that I'd even try.

**Kobain's Mommy** · 03-31-2012, 09:53 PM

I'd say she owes you a new seat period! Then give that one back to her to keep in their car. I'm sure even the plastic smells.

**HEVY** · 04-01-2012, 03:02 AM

I would expect a new cover. How big is the hole and where is it? I ask this because I fully believe if it's washed the smoke issue is non-existant, really, I would not throw out a cover that the smell can be washed out of.

**mominabigtruck** · 04-01-2012, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by HEVY

I would expect a new cover. How big is the hole and where is it? I ask this because I fully believe if it's washed the smoke issue is non-existant, really, I would not throw out a cover that the smell can be washed out of.

My dh chain smokes in his car for two hours every single day and I wash the covers and wipe down the straps and you can't tell at all. I'd be upset about the hole too but I really think you're making too big of a deal out of it. It's her car and your kids weren't in it. Frankly, I'm always a little surprised when people on here talk about smoking like it's evil and smokers should never be around their kids. It's a bad habit just like anything else and I would rather stand next to a smoker than someone chewing gum. I would rather clean carseats all day than try and get gum off of my shoe or out of someone's hair.
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**MommyShannon** · 04-01-2012, 08:19 AM

If you are around somebody who smokes regularly you are probably a lot less sensitive to it. My kids will comment right away if there is someone smoking in another car and you can faintly smell it or walking into a store. There is no way just wiping down the straps would get rid of it enough for them. They hate the smell. Second and third hand smoke has proven health risks where gum doesn't. I'd be plenty annoyed if I stepped on gum too though. I am not used to smelling smoke and cannot be anywhere near it without it giving me a headache.

**mominabigtruck** · 04-01-2012, 08:33 AM

Originally Posted by MommyShannon

If you are around somebody who smokes regularly you are probably a lot less sensitive to it. My kids will comment right away if there is someone smoking in another car and you can faintly smell it or walking into a store. There is no way just wiping down the straps would get rid of it enough for them. They hate the smell. Second and third hand smoke has proven health risks where gum doesn't. I'd be plenty annoyed if I stepped on gum too though. I am not used to smelling smoke and cannot be anywhere near it without it giving me a headache.

Nope, I have the nose of a bloodhound. Now that it's nice and I have the windows open I make dh stand across the street when he smokes. And he has to keep his laundry seperate from everyone else's too. When I wash his seats I just do the covers on a presoak and then I wipe the plastic down with brown lysol.

Now, if she had smoked in the op's car, then I'd be upset. Because then I'd have to steam the seats and ceiling which is a pita.
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**laurengt** · 04-01-2012, 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by mominabigtruck

My dh chain smokes in his car for two hours every single day and I wash the covers and wipe down the straps and you can't tell at all. I'd be upset about the hole too but I really think you're making too big of a deal out of it. It's her car and your kids weren't in it. Frankly, I'm always a little surprised when people on here talk about smoking like it's evil and smokers should never be around their kids. It's a bad habit just like anything else and I would rather stand next to a smoker than someone chewing gum. I would rather clean carseats all day than try and get gum off of my shoe or out of someone's hair.
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The chemicals from the smoke stay on the fabrics. Having a child in a car seat that had been exposed to smoke means that with every breath they are breathing in the chemicals around them, including the cigarette toxins. Gum chewers aren't poisoning other people with their gum chewing but smokers most certainly are poisoning others -- everyone they come into contact with, actually.

I would be livid if I found out someone smoked around my child or in our car.

**Brianna** · 04-01-2012, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by mominabigtruck

My dh chain smokes in his car for two hours every single day and I wash the covers and wipe down the straps and you can't tell at all. I'd be upset about the hole too but I really think you're making too big of a deal out of it. It's her car and your kids weren't in it. Frankly, I'm always a little surprised when people on here talk about smoking like it's evil and smokers should never be around their kids. It's a bad habit just like anything else and I would rather stand next to a smoker than someone chewing gum. I would rather clean carseats all day than try and get gum off of my shoe or out of someone's hair.
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Smokers don't bother me because I smoke but I do try to be respectful to non smokers and children. I would never smoke in my car if i had a car seat in it that wasn't already smoked around. Most of my friends smoke, and sadly a lot of them smoke in their apt and car with their kids. Smoking is never allowed in my car if there are kids in my car, even if the parent normally smokes in the car with their kid.

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**msg221** · 04-01-2012, 10:32 AM

I would not be okay with someone smoking around kids or their car seats either. I had to live with a smoker (my dad) for the first 14 years of my life and I can still recall the nasty smell of smoke in the car because my dad smoked in it. I HATED IT!! He quit cold turkey when he got really sick when I was 14 and my brothers and I were ecstatic! I never had the desire to try a cigarette, EVER. And I knew I could never be with anyone who is a smoker.

I am super sensitive to smoke and my eyes will start burning and tearing up as soon as I walk in a room where there has been smoke. Also, I just cannot stand the smell of it in my hair and on my clothes.

I remember when my friend's mother and father were providing day care for her now 16 year-old daughter (I think they watched her for the first 3 years of her life, until she went to preschool) and my friend explicitly instructed them not to smoke around L, which they didn't. They would go outside. But their entire house reeked of smoke and it was just embedded in everything and L would come home every day smelling like SHE had been smoking all day. My friend couldn't stand the smell and had to bathe L the second they walked in the door.

Sadly, her parents never quit smoking, even to this day even after her dad suffered a heart attack and had open heart surgery. Well, her mother has been on oxygen for well over a year now and has gotten so weak and ill that my friend was going over there about 3 times a week to help care for her. Yesterday she was admitted to the hospital after her oxygen levels were at 60%.

Anyway, I'd be super ticked too if that were my cover that had a cigarette burn in it, plus smelling of smoke! I'd be asking for her to replace the cover as well! I did check the Britax site, and the covers are $79.99 plus shipping.

**HaileysMommy** · 04-01-2012, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by laurengt

The chemicals from the smoke stay on the fabrics. Having a child in a car seat that had been exposed to smoke means that with every breath they are breathing in the chemicals around them, including the cigarette toxins. Gum chewers aren't poisoning other people with their gum chewing but smokers most certainly are poisoning others -- everyone they come into contact with, actually.

I would be livid if I found out someone smoked around my child or in our car.

Great post. Cigarettes kill, gum doesn't.