Carseat expiration when either still boxed or lightly used?

AK11161217

New member
I've been taking carseat expiration dates seriously since I recently found out they actually do expire but someone stumped me with a question the other day. They mentioned what if the seat was still new in box expired or if it was only brought out to the car for occasional car rides and used like 30 times total? It is my understanding that the materials still start to break down? But at the same time do they take longer to break down? Someone I know has an expired seat that I advised they replace and they don't see the point because it was only used occasionally and always brought back in the house after use and I really had no concrete proof that the seat was actually bad so didn't know what else to say. :eek: Does anyone know where any information is for expiration and unused/barely used seats? with proof if possible? TIA
 
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thepote

New member
As for the "plastic degradation" aspect... We just don't know. Normal, boxed conditions could be just as accelerating to the degradation of plastic as heat and cold in the car. We don't know the exact plastics they use... It could just be time that matters.

Also, if you live in one of the many "proper use" states, it is illegal to use an expired car seat because it goes against the manufacturers instructions. If you were in a crash you would be that parent who had their child improperly restrained. It would be in the police report, the media, etc etc. You would have to live with that.

And... Have you noticed the car seat market has changed drastically in the last 6+ years? Testing on car seats continues to get better and better and they are finding that small changes to car seats make large differences in protecting the child. Angle the base differently on newer seats and the child's neck doesn't whip forward as violently... That kind of stuff. There is a reason things keep changing and manufacturers continue to tweak their seats. Would you use a new in box Bobby Mac from the 70's? Heck no? Well that was the best back then... Top of the line technology. Now we do better and in the last 10 years manufacturers are slowly adding computer based and real-world biometrics in their seat designs. What you don't know about that expired 6+ year old seat could harm a child.
 

Baylor

New member
Yes. It is still expired. It may be is better condition than a car seat used in a car, But they expire for a reason.

Ask them this, Do they want their child to be the one who tests their theory out? Because basically they are making their kid the tester to see if it will be okay in a crash and they will have no way of knowing unless they have one and then it may be too late.

This is about keeping kids alive. It is too important.
 

Pixelated

Moderator - CPST Instructor
Chicco actually allows 6 years from date of PURCHASE for the KeyFit (in Canada...not sure if this is also true in the US) provided you have proof of purchase. So technically they seem to allow the use of a new in box KeyFit that is close to expiration to be used for 6 extra years. That could be almost 12 years in theory. I don't like it, and I don't understand it, but that's what they say :(
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
Chicco actually allows 6 years from date of PURCHASE for the KeyFit (in Canada...not sure if this is also true in the US) provided you have proof of purchase. So technically they seem to allow the use of a new in box KeyFit that is close to expiration to be used for 6 extra years. That could be almost 12 years in theory. I don't like it, and I don't understand it, but that's what they say :(

I know there is a thread on this board, from several years ago, back when Peg infant seats were 5 year expiries (aren't they more now?) and someone had emailed Peg about expiry and Peg said it was 5 years from date of purchase, not 5 years from DOM. Which ended up meaning Peg's expiry was a whole lot different than others with 6 year from DOM, unless you got one hot off the presses. Pretty sure Peg changed theirs now to match up with the industry though and it's from DOM and 6 years I think? I'm sure someone else knows definitively.
 

Brigala

CPST Instructor
The advances in safety technology are probably the biggest argument against this in my opinion, however I do believe materials degrade.

Some years ago, I picked up a Peg Perego seat from Craigslist for a friend who was using a long-since expired 3-point infant seat which was given to her after her car & car seats were destroyed in a house fire. Yeah, I know, a Craigslist seat is problematic anyway, but I wasn't as aware then as I am now and it was an improvement over the seat which not only had an unknown history but ALSO was expired. Anyway, the person I got the seat from was a Grandma who told me (and frankly I believed her, I think the seat was only $15 or something so she wasn't making a to n of $$ off it) that she'd used it for her grandchild 3 or 4 times and it had been stored in the hall closet the rest of that time.

My friend used the seat for 6 months, at which point her daughter outgrew it and she stored it in a closet also. We're talking a VERY LIGHTLY used car seat in outstanding condition.

When I got pregnant with my daughter, she gave it back to me. At the time when she gave it back, it was not yet expired and I thought I'd be able to use it before it expired, assuming a 6 year expiration. Well, then I found out that Peg seats expire after 5 years, and this one was due to expire about 2 months before my daughter was born. So I went out and bought a new seat and put this one in the corner in my bedroom figuring I might use it occasionally for non-vehicle purposes (a place to lay the baby for a minute and that sort of thing). At that time, it was in perfectly working condition, all the buttons and pulls were smooth, etc.. A few months after the expiration had passed, I decided I was going to take it off its base and see if I could talk my daughter into sitting in it and rocking a little now and then so I could maybe eat without holding her all the time (she was a high-needs newborn). Anyway, the seat would NOT come off the base. It took 3 adults to pull it apart. When I was finally able to examine the mechanism, the problem was that the plastic in the release mechanism had become too pliable and was no longer exerting enough pressure on the latches which hold the seat to its base.

If the plastic in the release mechanism was no longer working as designed, what about the plastics in the other parts of the seat? Needless to say, this seat was NEVER used in a vehicle after its expiration. I did have some luck using it as an infant chair in the house, though. :)

Keep in mind that this infant seat was less than 6 years old and in otherwise PERFECT (looking) condition at the time when I discovered the plastic had lost its integrity.

I have also developed quite a respect for expiration dates along with my hobby of recycling seats. I've found broken plastic supports on interior parts of car seats or places where there are cracks around rivets and bolts due to aging plastic. But this has been on much older seats, not ones just a few months past expiration. My Peg example is the only one I have of a seat which failed so soon after its stated lifespan.
 

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