A
abarry90
Guest
Found this New York Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/business/11shortcuts.ready.html?_r=1&oref=slogin which I thought was interesting and confirms my thoughts on expiration dates on car seats. As I suspected, the 6-8 year expiration is a conservative number and most manufacturers agree that based on age alone (absent any other significant stress like an accident or safety design changes) a car seat is unlikely to become unsafe from age alone until it hits about 10 years.
"It's not as if you'll hit the expiration date and the plastic will become weak," he said. "The plastic is good for at least 10 years. But regulations and standards are constantly changing."...
...Also, Mr. Galambos said, as the car seat ages, "some of the history gets lost, such as whether it was in an accident or not."
"Replacement parts get harder to find," he said. "Webbing and such start falling apart."
Last edited by a moderator: