have your carseats damaged your car?

M

My Sweet Blessings

New member

• Aug 15, 2008

• #1

I was just wondering what damage has been done to your car's seats from using carseats for a long time? We just bought a new car and would like to keep it in tip top shape. However, the carseats really dig into the car's seat. they are super plush and the carseats go DEEP down into them. I don't have any sort of seat protector on there right now and even wonder if one would do more harm than good. anyone have any pictures of what their seats looked like after removing the carseats? should I do the carseat shuffle periodically to keep the seats from getting destroyed?

 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus

• Aug 16, 2008

• #2

I've been putting carseats in four vehicles over the past fourteen years, and never had one damage the vehicle seat. And I've always severely compressed the vehicle seats when installing my carseats. I never used seat protectors or put anything under the carseats.

Let's see...

'92 Eagle Summit, vinyl seats, infant and convertible carseats, including 3-across, and the vehicle seats looked normal when we sold it in '01.

'97 Chevy Astro, very cushy cloth seats, infant and convertible carseats, seats still look normal.

'01 VW Golf, cloth seats, convertible carseat, seats look normal except that there is a very slight indention at the front edge, where the seat splits at the 60/40 fold.

'07 Mazda5, cloth seats, convertibles, seats still look normal within a day or two of removing the carseat.

:thumbsup:

 

M

My Sweet Blessings

New member

• Aug 16, 2008

• #3

awesome. I was wondering if they would pop back or be permenantly indented. i've never had seats SO plushy. I mean, I got the seats in super rock solid tight and it compressed the seats several inches. LOTS of plush.

 

Mommy2Five

New member

• Aug 16, 2008

• #4

We've had 40+ carseats in our vehicles over the last decade, and never had any permanent damage... There is usually an indentation in the seat padding, but if you leave the seat empty for a few days it goes away.. :twocents:

 

Holly

New member

• Aug 16, 2008

• #5

The back of my Radian rubbed a little spot that is noticable on the side of the drivers seat. It was when my Radian was RFing in the center and the top was kind of resting inbetween the 2 front seats, but the drivers seat is further back than the passenger seat, so the Radian rubbed it a lot.
It's just a little spot, not bad at all.

 

bobbysgirl7103

New member

• Aug 16, 2008

• #6

I've never noticed any damage in 9 yrs of multiple carseat use and 4 cars.

 

Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador

• Aug 16, 2008

• #7

I have had some temporary damage (dents), but it all goes away when I take the seat out and leave it out for a few days.

I move my carseats around in my vehicle (and then have them checked by a tech), so that the same seat only stays in a location for a few months at a time.

 

ffpmcps

New member

• Aug 16, 2008

• #8

Like all PPs I have installed many seats in our various cars over the years. The only seat I have ever had an issue with was the Apex65. All other seats were no issue at all. Even with the Apex65 a towel seemed to do the trick.

Andrea

 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician

• Aug 16, 2008

• #9

Ditto all of the above. I've never had any lasting marks/compression, though I've had some seatbelt creases. (No severing or fraying, though--so I don't think it's an issue. Heck, even that might go away after a while, but I haven't looked.)

 

NannyMom

Well-known member

• Aug 16, 2008

• #10

I was recently thinking about this too. I have a new sienna and I really want to keep it in tip top shape, especially since it's my first brand new vehicle. Taking out Sofi's Titan I see indentations from where the seat rests, and I hope they're not permanent! I'm also seeing marks on the seat back from A's HBTB. I think I'll slip a t-shirt over the vehicle seat and that should take care of it.

But, my thinbking was.... If Sofi's in carseats for 10 years, that may be as long as we keep the vehicle. SO by the time she's out, we'll be getting a new car anyway.

 

P

Peony

Member

• Aug 16, 2008

• #11

We only buy cars with leather seats, and we have had some minor damage over the years but nothing serious. The biggest problem is that one of my MA's has a broken piece of plastic around the base, it was broke during shipping. Britax says it's fine, but that sharp piece has worn against the leather in some of our cars. And I just changed all my seats around on Thursday to let the seats in my Sienna "plump" back up again. I noticed that DD2's feet had stained the back of one of the captains chair, I scrubbed for a long time and couldn't get the stains out with leather cleaner or any other cleaner for that matter so I guess I need to put a shirt on the back of the captains chair now.

 

U

Unregistered1

Guest

• Aug 16, 2008

• #12

My locking clips destroyed one of the seat belts in my 1990 Accord. The fact that the car is 19 years old coupled with me tightly installing seats with locking clips on a frequent basis caused it to fray right where the locking clip goes. I had it replaced... for $300.
But hey, what can you do?

 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus

Staff member

• Aug 16, 2008

• #13

No damage. In fact, I think the cloth in my Sienna's vehicle seats where various carseats have been used continuously for 3.5+ years looks better than the adjacent vehicle seats which haven't had a carseat installed on them long term. The carseats seem to have protected the vehicle seat cloth from a bit of fading and signs of wear and tear.

 

W

wendy1221

New member

• Aug 16, 2008

• #14

I have a Sienna we got 3 years ago. A few months ago I took all the seats out and used my Little Green Machine to clean all of the seats. here was a DEEP indentation where 2 Boulevards were. By the time I was done with all the seats, you could barely tell where the carseats had been. By the next day, after letting the eats dry before I reinstalled the seats, you couldn't tell at all. Without washing, I'm sure it would have taken longer, but the seats bounce back.

 

clmchrissy

New member

• Aug 16, 2008

• #15

Yes, my Regent rubbed the fabric causing permenant damage. I think a picture would describe it much better. .

 

skaterbabs

Well-known member

• Aug 16, 2008

• #16

Defrost said:

I've been putting carseats in four vehicles over the past fourteen years, and never had one damage the vehicle seat. And I've always severely compressed the vehicle seats when installing my carseats. I never used seat protectors or put anything under the carseats.

Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

Twelve years of carseats and I've NEVER had one damage a vehicle seat.

 

sunnymw

New member

• Aug 17, 2008

• #17

Buick Regal with leather seats--Boulevard installed, cheerios spilled, BV taken out to test drive other cars and put back in over where it was messy. Dirt rubbing caused small spot that won't wash off.

So, lesson is: clean the bottom of your seat and the vehicle seats before installing, LOL.

Otherwise, no damage anywhere