Certifying a US seat for use in Canada

dingohate · Apr 3, 2012

I did a quick search but it seemed to pull up anything and everything BUT what I needed.

I know the answer to this but there seems to be a fire station who is "certifying" seats from the US for use in Canada in SSM. Can some Canadian techs chime in on the absolute absurdity of this claim so that I may direct the parents to the CORRECT information? TIA Canadian techs!

SynEpona · Apr 3, 2012

There was a thread about this a while ago -- BC techs were talking about it. I think that might have been in regards to expired or used seats though, not US ones.

dingohate · Apr 3, 2012

SynEpona said:
There was a thread about this a while ago -- BC techs were talking about it. I think that might have been in regards to expired or used seats though, not US ones.

Just to be clear (since some moms with good questions will be reading this thread) that isn't allowed/legal either

Pixelated · Apr 3, 2012

dingohate said:
I did a quick search but it seemed to pull up anything and everything BUT what I needed.

I know the answer to this but there seems to be a fire station who is "certifying" seats from the US for use in Canada in SSM. Can some Canadian techs chime in on the absolute absurdity of this claim so that I may direct the parents to the CORRECT information? TIA Canadian techs!

Can you find out which fire station this is, and we can have someone make a friendly, informative phone call? This urban myth pops up frequently, but it's been very hard to nail down a real place that's actually doing it.

canadiangie · Apr 3, 2012

Which fire station?

dingohate · Apr 3, 2012

I've just asked her which station it was. There are some people encouraging her not to 'rat them out' :scratcheshead:

ketchupqueen · Apr 3, 2012

It's not like they have a supply of extra stickers and labels. So even if they DO "certify" them, it wouldn't mean anything if the parents were stopped at a checkpoint or anything, right? They would still get a ticket for an illegal seat. I'd probably point that out.

April · Apr 3, 2012

There have been seats that have had "dual certifications", meaning came from the manufacturer with both fmvss and cmvss stickers on them, but there is no such "retrofit" or "aftermarket certification". I would love to know where this is coming from.
Posted via Mobile Device

tam_shops · Apr 4, 2012

This news article may help: Cross-Border shopping for a car seat is Illegal

ICBC site if she is from BC.

tam

SynEpona · Apr 4, 2012

dingohate said:
Just to be clear (since some moms with good questions will be reading this thread) that isn't allowed/legal either

Sorry, should have said that!

snowbird25ca · Apr 4, 2012

I'm starting to wonder if this rumour shows up periodically just in a he-said-she-said kind of way.

I had someone contact me just the other day to find out if I could re-certify a seat that was expiring. The firehall had given her my phone number because they knew I helped with car seats.

From what this mom told me, it was a friend who thought she'd "heard somewhere that someone was able to do that."

So I suspect that it just keeps kicking around and we slowly kill the myths one at a time with any luck...

As to the original question, seats which leave the manufacturer's production line without being certified to CMVSS cannot be certified to CMVSS. The only one who can certify a seat to CMVSS is the restraint manufacturer. Once it's left the assembly line, it simply can't be done. There are differences between many US seats and Canadian seats, and many of them aren't obvious to the average observer.

In addition to it being illegal, they also wouldn't have any warranty coverage from the manufacturer, nor would they be able to obtain recall parts if their seat was involved in a recall. Add to that that some of the seats in the US outright fail Canadian standards, and I most certainly wouldn't even want to use a US seat.

tam_shops · Apr 4, 2012

The *expired car seat is safe to use according to a fire hall* one is not an Urban Legend here in Richmond. I personally know one lady (as in close friends and we eat dinner at each others' houses on a regular basis) that was told this. I sent her to them w/ her expired seat DOM 2000 Peg in the Spring of 2009, expecting them to tell her the same thing I had, "suck it up and replace it". And, they told her it's less than ten years old and safe/fine to use, said to finish using it w/ this child and then *think* about getting rid of it. Obviously I was furious b/c she is the type of person that would have bought a new one if they'd have told her to...

In addition to her, there were a few others in the play group that went to the same place for the same reason and were essentially all told the same thing. I just don't know the DOMs on their seat and don't know them as well...
Know they were Peg/Graco seats and the kids were born in 2005/06.

tam

canadiangie · Apr 4, 2012

Interesting. I had someone contact me about six weeks ago asking the same thing. She had been told to contact me. All contact with her was via email and she did not disclose who suggested me as a person who could re-certify her expired infant seat.

I agree it's an urban legend that just swirls around...

snowbird25ca said:
I'm starting to wonder if this rumour shows up periodically just in a he-said-she-said kind of way.

I had someone contact me just the other day to find out if I could re-certify a seat that was expiring. The firehall had given her my phone number because they knew I helped with car seats.

From what this mom told me, it was a friend who thought she'd "heard somewhere that someone was able to do that."

So I suspect that it just keeps kicking around and we slowly kill the myths one at a time with any luck...

As to the original question, seats which leave the manufacturer's production line without being certified to CMVSS cannot be certified to CMVSS. The only one who can certify a seat to CMVSS is the restraint manufacturer. Once it's left the assembly line, it simply can't be done. There are differences between many US seats and Canadian seats, and many of them aren't obvious to the average observer.

In addition to it being illegal, they also wouldn't have any warranty coverage from the manufacturer, nor would they be able to obtain recall parts if their seat was involved in a recall. Add to that that some of the seats in the US outright fail Canadian standards, and I most certainly wouldn't even want to use a US seat.

cmcki737 · Apr 4, 2012

totally off topic but reading canada threads makes me super depressed about the US's car seat standards

sent from my SPH-M580 using Car-Seat.Org

Shanora · Apr 4, 2012

And yet I'd almost kill to get my hands on A corroco cat seat... I'm SOOO in love with that seat....

Keeks64 · Apr 5, 2012

Shanora said:
And yet I'd almost kill to get my hands on A corroco cat seat... I'm SOOO in love with that seat....

*sigh* me too!

dingohate · Apr 5, 2012

canadiangie said:
Interesting. I had someone contact me about six weeks ago asking the same thing. She had been told to contact me. All contact with her was via email and she did not disclose who suggested me as a person who could re-certify her expired infant seat.

I agree it's an urban legend that just swirls around...

It's funny because this girl never got back to me regarding which firehall certified her seat. She was probably deflecting the responsibility of her bad decision onto 'the firehall' after hearing about it through the grapevine. I suppose you're probably right about the urban legend!

SynEpona · Apr 5, 2012

I had a little time to do some google-searching to see if I could find out more about where people are talking about this magical (fictional) recertifying.

Most things I find are people talking about how they wish it was possible, or how certain helments can be shipped back, tested, and re-certified. On most discussions, a tech comes in and debunks things quickly, and no one really claims knowledge of where this re-certifying can happen, just that they heard it from a friend of a friend ...

This one does have a reply part way down the first page where the poster says there is an organization in Canada.
http://community.babycenter.com/post/a26070637/ot-_what_to_do_with_expired_carseat

This blog post from just two weeks ago, promoting a car seat check in Arizona claims seats can be recertified.
http://rakhealthmatters.wordpress.com/category/family-safety/car-seats-family-safety/

Families can have a child’s car seat recertified, learn how to install a seat correctly or get a free car seat.

Certifying a US seat for use in Canada

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