Explanation of expiration?

carseatfreak

New member
One question I've got lately was why seats expire in 6 years. Is it just because of the degredation of the plastic? I've seen the youtube video and i thought the straps broke...but that doesn't explain to me why the frontier has a 9 year expiry and other seats have a 6? What explanation do you guys have?

Also...what do you guys think of using infant seats without EPS foam vs. a seat with? Do you think it makes that much of a difference?
 
Last edited:
ADS

Starlight

Senior Community Member
Where'd you hear 3 years?

Most carseats expire in 6 years, unless the manufacturer specified otherwise. Reason being: because the plastic can degrade, because of advances in technology, etc.

Oh, and EPS always wins. If a seat with EPS can be had, there is no question, that seat should be used.
 

MomToEliEm

Moderator
I think carseat expiration is due to several reasons, not just plastic degrading. Here are my reasons on why I think carseat expiration dates are valid.

1. Plastic does degrade over time. It doesn't magically happen at 6 years, but it is a good date guideline, especially if a carseat has been used in a hot car or stored in a hot garage.

2. Manufacturers make safety upgrades to seats all the time. They want to get older seats that might not meet the new safety guidelines out of the market. Seats made 10 years ago, often had a 20-22 pound rear facing limit on them (this was for convertible seats, not just infant seats). Now, those convertible seats rear face to 30-35 pounds, and are much safer. Older seats used 3 point harnesses or shields to protect a child, and now more seats are using safer 5 point harnesses on seats.

3. After a certain period of time, seats loose manuals, stickers wear off, harnesses get frayed. It is hard to get replacement parts for older carseats. Without good working parts or a good manual, carseats may not be used correctly.

4. Manufacturers are except from lawsuits from an injury that might happen to a child in an older carseat. If a seat fails after it is expired, you were the one who took the risks of the plastic degrading or possibly having a seat that fails newer safety regulations. You cannot blame the manufacturer for using an expired seat when they told you not to use it.

Maybe Britax is working on improving all their seats to 9 years, but since some of the seats have 6 years still, they aren't in a rush to change them. Britax may also feel more confident about their seat design now and don't anticipate any safety changes soon which would cause them to want to get older seats off the market. I would love to see seats have 8-10 year expiration on them. I think that would aid some families who need seats passed down to other siblings. I want to make sure the seats are safe to use up to those dates first.
 
U

Unregistered1

Guest
It's because the exposure to hot and cold breaks down the plastic. What I usually tell parents is to think of it this way: when you get back into your car after leaving it in a parking lot for a while, depending on the season, you know how hot/cold it can be in there at first! Well when you get out, the car seat stays in, so it's constantly exposed to all that hot and cold. Even if it's sitting in your garage it still sits there while the temperatures are changing. The changing and extreme temperatures speed up the breakdown of the plastic so that it weakens and can break. Even if for some reason you kept your car seat in a climate controlled environment for 6 years, do you really want to test it out with your own child? What you saw in the video I believe was the harness pulling THROUGH the shell of the car seat due to the brittle plastic.

I'm not quite sure as to why the frontier has a 9 year expiration date, maybe it's made with a different type of plastic, maybe they test it differently, I don't know. The Radians have an 8 year one too. That would be a good question for a company rep I think.
 

carseatfreak

New member
Thanks for your responses. That is kind of what I was thinking. I'm running into the situation with carseat expiration and my cousin's new baby. They are wanting to use their other ds seat and it is 5 years old (she is supposed to get the official date of manufacture off the seat for me), graco snugride, pre-EPS. I've tried to inform her as much as possible so she can make a wise decision...but I didn't really know the proper answer to give on carseat expiration b/c she just figured they said they expired in 6 years so you'd go buy a new one. :) I have bought her a new seat but we've also discussed using the money we would spend on the seat to get a frontier for older ds to be in and they new ds could use that once older one outgrew it if she could make the timing work....
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
I think carseat expiration is due to several reasons, not just plastic degrading. Here are my reasons on why I think carseat expiration dates are valid.

1. Plastic does degrade over time. It doesn't magically happen at 6 years, but it is a good date guideline, especially if a carseat has been used in a hot car or stored in a hot garage.

2. Manufacturers make safety upgrades to seats all the time. They want to get older seats that might not meet the new safety guidelines out of the market. Seats made 10 years ago, often had a 20-22 pound rear facing limit on them (this was for convertible seats, not just infant seats). Now, those convertible seats rear face to 30-35 pounds, and are much safer. Older seats used 3 point harnesses or shields to protect a child, and now more seats are using safer 5 point harnesses on seats.

3. After a certain period of time, seats loose manuals, stickers wear off, harnesses get frayed. It is hard to get replacement parts for older carseats. Without good working parts or a good manual, carseats may not be used correctly.

4. Manufacturers are except from lawsuits from an injury that might happen to a child in an older carseat. If a seat fails after it is expired, you were the one who took the risks of the plastic degrading or possibly having a seat that fails newer safety regulations. You cannot blame the manufacturer for using an expired seat when they told you not to use it.

Those are exactly why seats expire.

My eldest son is almost 12. My younger son is 10. My daughter is 4 1/2. The improvements in seats just since I was pregnant with my daughter five years ago is INSANE. I bought a Roundabout on clearance when I was pregnant with her because I got a great deal on a non-LATCH model. It was a GREAT seat for an unbelievable price, and since we drive older cars, LATCH was not important to us. However, just a few months later the Marathon was released.
When my eldest was a baby t-shields were common. By the time my younger son was in need of a convertible, they were rather difficult to find because they were being discontinued. They simply did not protect children well. I predict five years before overhead shield dissapear the same way.

Even if there was not the concern of failure during a crash I would have NO desire to use a seat from when my boys were small.

Except the Britax Laptop. I adored that seat and still wish they'd bring it back. :D
 

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