Would you use own set slightly beyond expiration?

I have a Chicco key fit 30 that expires April 2014. I am having a baby in Sept, and like to use the bucket infant seat til 12 months. That goes 5 months beyond exp. date. Seat has been used for 3 kids so far with a year off in between each. I really won't buy a new seat...is it safe to use a few months over?

If I bought a seat brand new, took good care of it, never washed the straps, it had never been in a crash of ANY kind......sure I'd use it a little past expiration. A few months at the most. Maybe think about moving this baby out of the infant seat a little sooner than the rest. It will be summer. You won't need to keep the baby warm from the house to the car or anything. And the seat gets to heavy to carry with baby in it by then anyway. I always ended up leaving the seat in the car after about eight months anyway.

Nope. A few days maybe. But no way I'd use a seat 5 months past exp! The snugride 30 is $99 at Walmart or $85(last time I checked) on Amazon.

Heck no.

It sets a poor example for those around me that might notice.

It's illegal in most states.

If you got in an accident, do you really want to be the mom who had the "improperly restrained" child who was using an expired car seat?

Yes, technically the seat is probably fine, but in addition to the above points, in the big picture we need a culture change on CPS stuff and either you are helping or you are not.

I'd just switch to a convertible when the seat expires rather than push the date, that will get you past the newborn/early infancy stage. It's not going to self destruct on the date of expiry, but it's not worth going against manufacturer's directions.

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austinmomtr said:

I have a Chicco key fit 30 that expires April 2014. I am having a baby in Sept, and like to use the bucket infant seat til 12 months. That goes 5 months beyond exp. date. Seat has been used for 3 kids so far with a year off in between each. I really won't buy a new seat...is it safe to use a few months over?

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No it's not safe to use after expiration. A couple weeks until you can get a new seat, sure..... 5 months, definitely not. By the time it expires, your baby will be 7 months & it would be a perfect time to go ahead & buy a long lasting rear facing convertible seat.

On another note, have the straps been washed on the infant bucket?

I don't like infant seats onc the baby can sit on their own so I'd just use yours until it expires and move to a convertible. My infant seat was crashed when my youngest was 4 1/2 months and switched to a convertible, it worked great.

tiggercat said:

I'd just switch to a convertible when the seat expires rather than push the date, that will get you past the newborn/early infancy stage. It's not going to self destruct on the date of expiry, but it's not worth going against manufacturer's directions.

Sent from my iPod touch using Car-Seat.Org

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Yep. This. If I couldn't live without an infant seat for a few months then I would look for an inexpensive infant seat. Really though, the keyfit will get your through the newborn stage and the winter.

tiggercat said:

I'd just switch to a convertible when the seat expires rather than push the date, that will get you past the newborn/early infancy stage. It's not going to self destruct on the date of expiry, but it's not worth going against manufacturer's directions.

Sent from my iPod touch using Car-Seat.Org

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That is what I was thinking. My dh loves the convenience of the bucket, but I am always glad to move to convertible...

lovemy2kidstw said:

No it's not safe to use after expiration. A couple weeks until you can get a new seat, sure..... 5 months, definitely not. By the time it expires, your baby will be 7 months & it would be a perfect time to go ahead & buy a long lasting rear facing convertible seat.

On another note, have the straps been washed on the infant bucket?

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I am sure I have used dawn and water to wash off spit up before. Are you not supposed to do that? What do u do when child pees/vomits on straps?

mommyfrog said:

If I bought a seat brand new, took good care of it, never washed the straps, it had never been in a crash of ANY kind......sure I'd use it a little past expiration. A few months at the most. Maybe think about moving this baby out of the infant seat a little sooner than the rest. It will be summer. You won't need to keep the baby warm from the house to the car or anything. And the seat gets to heavy to carry with baby in it by then anyway. I always ended up leaving the seat in the car after about eight months anyway.

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:yeahthat:

Especially with an infant seat that is not usually kept in an extremely hot or extremely cold car for an extended period of time like a convertible would be. From a safety/liability/engineering standpoint there is no way the seat is designed to self destruct or magically be less structurally sound on May 1, 2014 than it was on April 30, 2014. I still think that a majority of the purpose of expiration dates is to favor the manufacturer rather than the integrity of the car seat. There needs to be a point when the manufacturer can stop supporting the car seat with customer service and replacement parts. I agree that there absolutely needs to be some sort of rule about when to pull car seats out of service but an absolute fixed date is a bit severe. Especially for a seat that has been well cared for by someone who knows how to take care of a car seat (not checking on an airline, not washing straps, and the like).

Another point to ponder, and fuel for my fire, is the method Graco uses to determine expiration. Their infant seats expire in December of the 6th year after manufacture. That means that a seat that is manufactured in January will expire on the same day as a seat manufactured in December. There is an 11 month discrepancy there so a January seat has a full 6 years of service where a December seat has just completed 5 years of service. Also, why would manufacturers change the lifespan of the seats with out a significant change in the seat its self. This has been seen with some of the Evenflo and Graco seats. The lifespan seems to reflect the marketing needs of the seat rather than material or structural concerns.

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austinmomtr said:

I am sure I have used dawn and water to wash off spit up before. Are you not supposed to do that? What do u do when child pees/vomits on straps?

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No, you are only supposed to use water & a mild soap, like baby soap on a dampened wash cloth. They are not supposed to be submerged. If they pee or vomit, I use baby wipes to get all of the stuff off & then get a washcloth & dampen it with baby soap & water & wipe down the straps & lay them out to dry.

Don't feel bad, there are plenty of us here who washed straps before we didn't know better

I've always thought that Dawn was considered a mild soap. If it's just used to wipe the straps, I thought that's ok- just not submerging them.

Nope. I think Sept-April is plenty of time for the infant seat, my youngest was born in Sept and I switched her to a convertible around March/April because the weather warmed up, and it worked out perfectly fine. I can't imagine using an infant seat till 12 months anyways, I really only use it for the convenience factor for the first couple months. After that there's no way I'd be able to lug it around so I'd leave it in the car all the time and there would be no point!

I'd maybe use a seat for an extra month, if it was something like an infant seat expiring when a baby was a month old just to get to a point where a convertible might be less of a difficulty. But to keep using an infant seat for an extra few month with a baby over 6 months old, nope.

Brianna said:

I've always thought that Dawn was considered a mild soap. If it's just used to wipe the straps, I thought that's ok- just not submerging them.

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I wonder about that too. When I called Britax last year about vomit on my straps they said use a mild soap like Dove or Ivory. Dawn seems stronger than those to me but I don't know. Maybe we need a "What is considered a mild soap thread?"

ETA: They also said no wipes of any kind. Oops.

Persimmon said:

Maybe we need a "What is considered a mild soap thread?"

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We definitely do! It's all very confusing & one persons opinion of a mild soap may not be the same as the next persons. I think someone needs to invent a 'car seat straps safe' mild soap.

5 months is too far past expiration, IMO.

I had a seat a friend gave me when I was pregnant with Aeryn, a Peg Perego, which was due to expire like a month before she was born. It was in pristine condition. At first, I thought I'd be OK with using it. I'd even found an expired one at a yard sale for like $2 which I picked up (and recycled) so I'd have a spare cover. I figured I'd use it for a few months then move her into the Radian I already had because I was doing daycare before Aeryn was born.

Well, as my pregnancy progressed, I decided it was silly to skimp on a car seat and I decided I wanted a new one. DH and I settled on the Onboard Air. I put the Peg on a shelf in our (well climate controlled) garage. A few months after Aeryn was born, I thought maybe it would be a nice place for her to sit, so I got it down with the intention of using it as a "baby" chair in the house But I couldn't for the life of me get it out of the base! The plastic in the release mechanism had become too elastic and it wouldn't pull the latch open anymore. This seat wasn't even six years old! (Pegs expire after 5 years, or at least this one did; which was part of why I toyed with using it, since it wasn't even as old as most unexpired seats). I'd say it was about 4 or 5 months after its expiration and it already wasn't functioning correctly. It had only ever been "in service" for about 8 months total, split between two other kids, and had always been stored indoors or in a climate controlled environment.

That experience made me "respect" expiration dates a lot more. I saw for myself how plastic degrades and can cause a seat to fail. Would it have protected my child in an accident? Probably. But how can I know?

I'm not going to panic and stay home if I discover the seat I've got expired two weeks ago. I'll still use it to drive around town with my kiddo and shop for a new car seat, or while I wait for one to arrive from Amazon or something. But it's just not worth it IMO to intentionally use a seat months past its expiration.

Assuming they haven't sold out, Safety 1st has an Onboard Air in Silverleaf on their website for $76 right now. And you can get the stroller frame to go with it for an additional $20 (half off sale price with purchase of an onboard car seat).

I agree with some of the others. A few weeks to a month Yes. 5 months, NO. That's a bit too long. It's not going to fall apart in a few weeks but there are reasons they put the dates on them.