Expiration Dates on Car Seats

U

Unregistered

Guest
I've been researching the directions to "throw away" car seats after their expiration dates....why don't the manufacturers offer some sort of "recycling" program where we can turn in the seats to be recycled and receive a "x dollars off" coupon toward purchasing a new seat? This sure seems like a better alternative to overloading our landfills with thousand of "expired" seats each year and the manufacturer might maintain a happy customer instead of one shopping the competition.
 
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KeikiHula

New member
That sounds like a great idea, but I'm not sure it would do any good since usually once a carseat expires, the kid has no need for another. By the time a carseat has expired, the kid would be past the age of needing a booster or anything else. I do think there should be some sort of recycling program and I don't see why there isn't since carseats are mainly plastic.
 

Tara

New member
It does sound like a nice idea. Ya gotta remember all those infant seats...they still have to move up to something. So, in that case, the $$ off coupon would still be useful.
But, yeah, there really should be some kind of recycling going on. Hmm
I guess it's up to "us" to start it huh? ;)
 

KeikiHula

New member
well, it would be great if you could trade in your carseat when your kid outgrew it, but if you figure the average carseat life is 6 years, by the time your infant seat expired, your kid would have been in a booster for 2 years, so that's why I'm saying it wouldn't do you much good.

I have been through so many carseats (although not as many as some here!LOL) and usually my carseats are trashed by the time they are a couple years old, so I wouldn't even want to pass them on to anyone. I only have one seat that I actually took to the dump though. It was a CHEAP Evenflo seat that was so hard to install, that even though it was more or less brand new, I didn't want anyone else to have it and install it wrong. So I cut the harness straps and put it with some really yucky garbage to try and deter dumpster divers ;)
 

Dreaming_of_Speed

Senior Community Member
The child the seat was bought for may not need a seat anymore but most parents who keep a seat around for 6 to 8 years use it for 2 or 3 kids. So maybe the first doesn't need a new seat but the younger siblings could.

I agree it seems like a very good idea it also would be a good way to dispose of seat used in car accidents. I myself am currently looking for a way to dispose of the seat my nephew was in tonight (see next post about our accident) the only thing i've found is britax will take theirs back and to cut the straps (but some people say not to b/c some ppl will take it and make thier own straps form ropes or bungee cords.) I definitely wont just sit it on the curb (way too risky since my neighbor would likely take it and use it and lie that she did) i think i'll do like the PP said and mix it in a bag with the grossest stuff i can create to deter others from using it.
 

Kellyr2

New member
I know that I've heard that in some locations, you can take used seats to a fire station where they will dispose of it properly. I'd want to double check that though, and find out exactly what they are doing with them. I'd think that some might just be tossing them in the dumpster, and you could do that yourself.
I've also heard to not only cut the straps, but totally disassemble. Take the straps out, take the cover off, tear all the padding out, disassemble anything that can be taken apart.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Yeah, you really HAVE to destroy them, otherwise some ebayer will take them off the street and sell them with the straps cut, and maybe even mention they think it was in a crash, that's why the straps are cut, but you can just buy new straps! yay!).

I think heaps of parents would be thrilled to get some kind of coupon or voucher for a turned-in seat... I wouldn't hang on to a 2 yo infant seat if I was going to get $20 from Graco or BRU to buy another seat! (Can you imagine how great that would be? People bringing in all kinds of relics and getting them out of cars and attics... and then them being recycled...cool... Ah, utopian visions... :) )
 

Kellyr2

New member
Ah, so I'm guessing it drives you insane to see those 15 yr old infant seats too huh? I was once walking into a hospital to visit my grandfather (he's fine) and there was a frustrated couple and grandmother struggling with getting the straps adjusted on an ancient infant seat. I was in shock - I thought all of the hospitals in my area did more than just ask you if you had a seat - I thought they checked for installation! So, I went over and helped them - but the straps were made differently so even I struggled. I had to re-route them, because they were going through the top slot an this was one tiny baby. I just wished I had an extra infant seat lying around that I could have given them! But no - ours disappeard in one of our many moves. I think the old babysitter has it but she won't fess up.
Anyway, sorry to go OT. But I wish we could get rid of all those old seats!!
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
KeikiHula said:
I have been through so many carseats (although not as many as some here!LOL)
Hey! Was that a cheap shot? :p J/K

I was thinking yesterday of how little advertising there is for inspections by local techs ... & remembering how everytime I have been to see them they always ask for donations & for me to volunteer some time, etc. - I was thinking why they don't have a carseat recycling program for seats that are NOT expired :confused: I mean, I know there's the risk of not knowing whether or not the seat suffered a crash, but is there any way to find out of there's any damage that would prevent a low-income family from being able to use such donated seats anyway :eek:
 

KeikiHula

New member
Actually, I was refering more to Deborah than to you. ;) I am in awe of her carseat collection! LOL

I have asked several places if I could donate my un-used carseats b/c I know how expencive a carseat can be if you barely have enough money for the basics (BTDT) and have always been told it's too big a liability. So I was thinking I could just put them in the paper. I see all kinds of crap in the classifieds that *I* would never buy, but I have no problem giving away my stuff to someone that needs it, b/c I know my stuff has been taken care of. I've got 2 convertables and an infant seat here that need new homes and would be great seats for someone who can't afford one. But then I also think about all the carseats I see installed totally wrong and would feel horrible if I had something to do with giving someone a hard to use seat and something happened to their child. But then I can't afford to buy Britax's for everyone....LOL
 

groovymom2000

New member
I just donated my RA to a local CPS instructor to use for training...

it is about to expire and I wasn't using it. You might try that route.
 

KeikiHula

New member
I was thinking about FreeCycle. There is a group here but it's pretty dead. I've got carseats, a playpen, tons of clothes ect that I'd like to get rid of and it would be so easy to just have someone come and get them! I could also take them to one of the kids consignment shops, but then I keep thinking I don't want to further all the crappy seats that get taken there. The last time I was in she was all excited and calling people on her wait list for a convertable b/c she had an OHS. UGH! I don't want to contribute to that kind of thing. :mad:
 

Tara

New member
Well, I was thinking along the lines of those with big families...(as Dreaming of Speed was saying) you use an infant seat for 6 months ?? then it goes on down to the next baby..continuing until it expires..but some folks are still having kids by the time that one expires and are still in need of an infant seat ;) That would be me...going on #5. Say if I had gotten one new with my first, now 8, once that seat expired..recycle it, get a coupon to get a new infant seat ... which actually would have been for #4 kid.
Then I have 2 kids in between there that are also in seats. See? hehehe I'm always in need of a new car seat it seems. I'm just beginning to get 'caught up' buying these Britax seats the last few years. :)
Anywho...started responding before I read everyone's posts hehe

I, too, cringe at the old relics being used. And I think what gets me even more...are when I see those junky old things 'installed' (term used loosely) in a brand spankin' new Volvo, Cadillac, Jag and on down to new Toyotas (Camry and Corolla) *Yup, seen 'em all* I'm like, excuse me? Now, I KNOW you can afford a new carseat for that child!!

In my area...an expired seat would HAVE to be demolished before putting it to the curb. I just KNOW someone would pick it up and use it, no matter the age or appearance otherwise (meaning, it could look all trashy and dirty and such, though, it wouldn't be from here, but just sayin' LOL)

I drive my dh crazy hehe Anytime I see some dreadful carseat I cringe and make comments..and say how I wish I could buy them a new seat. I, too, could love to buy everyone a Britax LOL But, that's just NOT gonna happen. But should I come into some money..oh you better believe I WOULD do such. I'd haul a trailer around behind me, filled with new Britax seats hehehe I'd be in the parking lots, looking for offenses...wait until they came out and present them with a new seat...I'd install it too of course...then RUN like the wind with their relic LOL Thoroughly enjoying myself as I beat it to smithereens at home teehee
 

KeikiHula

New member
Someone should make a carseat museum with all the old junky seats. Heck, I'd pay money to see that. Then that money could be used to buy new Britax's for people who can't afford them. ;) Seems like my mom has a pic of me in my carseat, and I still remember sitting in it in my bedroom, b/c my mom didn't have it installed in the car! :rolleyes:

I can see where the coupon thing would work for families with lots of kids. That would be great since there would always be someone needing a new seat. I was just saying from my expirience, it wouldn't do me much good. Morgan's very first infant seat is still good and is just sitting here gathering dust. My kids will be out of carseats before they expire. Maybe I could use a coupon from that first infant seat on a booster for Cody...lol
 

Dreaming_of_Speed

Senior Community Member
i called the local fire department to try to turn in my recently crashed in seat and they refused to take it. They kept insisting that i still needed a seat and they couldn't "take away" a child's car seat.

Hello it's CRACKED. I was playing with it and got pinched i'm not putting a child in it. so i've decided to hang on to it. Not to use or anything but one day to show my nephew that he was in a car seat and it cracked a good 3 inches but he was just bruised. And you never know when someone is going to say that car seats are useless and i have proof that it worked. The cops expected him to be seriously hurt and he was fine.

I had two discovery infant seats gathering dust after my twins were born too early (dont flame me now i didnt buy them they were gifts and i was 15 how did i know a 3 pnt wasnt good?) i gave one to a friend of mine b/c she had her baby early and she didn't buy one in time and her family wanted to use one that was 7 years old OHS. She's still using but as he was born Christmas morning i'm sure he's too big by now. When she's done with it i think i'll get rid of both somehow and the maybe the graco base i have (its the wrong *color* for my new seat. :p sad i know.)
 

Smiles365

Senior Community Member
They tried something like that a few years ago here, but almost nobody brought seats. It's really hard to get seats in general here, we don't have TRU or BRU, WalMart, KMart, Target, anything like that here, just good old Fred Meyer, lol, and they only carry 4 or 5 models of seats, mostly boosters. It's so expensive to ship things here that people get seats when they are down in the lower 48 and pass them on to others when their kids outgrow them. Most of the seats I've done checks on so far aren't the original owners of the seat. When we get seats that need to be destroyed one of us takes them home and beats the snot out of them until there is no way they can be used. One of the techs in Sitka (another very small community that has even less things than we do here in Juneau and you can only get to by boat or plane, like here) she takes the seats that need to be destroyed and has someone run them thru the bansaw, just cuts right thru the plastic! Someone I know is getting rid of her son's old seats and I'm thinking about getting them (she wants to sell them) and giving them to the CPS instructor to use in the classes.
~Sarah~
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
I think my parts of the recaro start are recycable.

I'll have to look tomorrow but I'm pretty sure I saw that recycling symbol on the bottom of the seat.
 

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