Do booster seats expire?

lpperry

Active member
I understand that a regular carseat can expire. (Actually, I am looking for some actual research that says WHY a carseat can expire, because my husband doesn't believe me. I can't tell him "because the ladies on car-seat.org say so!")

Can booster seats expire? I don't know how they can because all they do is make sure the regular car seats are in the correct position (and some offer SIP). So, how can a booster seat expire. They are not being held in place by a seatbelt through their plastic and then relying on a harness. They are just sitting in the seat and the car seat belt is doing all the work.

Does anyone know about this?
 
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Mommy0608

New member
:yeahthat:

Here's a video of a 10 year old harnessed seat. It's expired, and the harness rips through the plastic shell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvCRz7BRAM0

The frame of the booster does take some of the crash forces, and since plastic degrades over time, it can't be relied upon beyond it's stated lifetime. We don't know if a seat (harnessed OR booster) will fail 1 month after expiration, 6 months, 1 year, etc. All we know is that at some point, it becomes unreliable, and none of us want our children to be the crash test dummy that finds out. :eek:
 

MomToEliEm

Moderator
I think with boosters, the main reason for them to expire is due to changing regulations and safety standards. Without expiration dates on them, older less-safe boosters may stay on the market for a long time. Shield boosters were very popular a few years ago. Luckily many are starting to expire now so hopefully fewer are being used. If these shield boosters didn't have expiration dates, they could stay on the market for a long time. Studies have proven that they are not the safest booster for the child so they stopped being made. As manufacturers start learning about better ways to position a seatbelt, the older boosters which cause the seatbelt to rise onto the child's belly will hopefully be expiring so they will not be used as often.

Boosters may still be affected by plastic degradation. The lapbelt portion of the booster (typically the armrests) need to be strong enough to keep the lapbelt down during a crash. If they were brittle they may break off raising the seatbelt up on the child's belly. The shoulder belt positioned on a seatbelt may also break off if the plastic is brittle causing the seatbelt to not fall correctly on the child at the right time.
 

Joyofbirth

New member
I was just wondering this last night. My mom found some old seats in her garage. One was a graco no back booster. It had a dom sticker, but no expiration imprinted. So when does it expire? Also, I asked Britax CS how long on their high back boosters. They told me 10 years, but now I'm hearing 6 like a carseat. I was told this about 3 years ago. My sister has some she has been hanging on to.
 

azgirl71

CPST Instructor
There is one booster that does not expire. It is a backless booster made by Evenflo. I do not recall the model off the top of my head. It is not a seat I have seen in the stores though. I have only seen them at huge check events.
 

Judi

CPST/Firefighter
I thought the right fit expired? he had a lot after Boost America and were trying to get them out asap.
 

Judi

CPST/Firefighter
Ah, so they don't!

Page 2

"The Evenflo RightFit does not include an expiry date, as this model was introduced prior to this practice coming to the fore. Any RightFit that has been in storage and is unused, complete and not otherwise damaged is appropriate for use."
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
It means they started making them before they started putting expiration dates on carseats - before anyone realized that people would continue to use seats long after their own children outgrew them, and hand them down, and pass them around for decades.

Because a lot of organizations and institutions had purchased them for the purpose of handing them out for free or low-cost, they had a lot of these seats still waiting to be put to use. Therefore the manufacturer essentially said "Go ahead and hand them out, and we'll start the expiration date from there."

These seats were a bit of a special case because they'd been stored and unused. They were also made of a different type of plastic, IIRC?
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
They were also made of a different type of plastic, IIRC?
Yes. This type of plastic is also what the definitive/permanent prostheses are made of while most carseats are made of the same plastic used only for temporary/post-operative prostheses (in my family's O&P business).

Most importantly for the OP, boosters help absorb crash forces at the hips -- this is important because the pelvis is still maturing through puberty.

Also, expiration is necessary for all the reasons stated here: plastic degrades, designs improve with knowledge over time, etc.

Most carseats/boosters expire within 6 yrs from DOM, some 8 . . . NHTSA used to have a general recommendation that 10 yrs is the maximum.... Not sure this is still "policy" because that page has disappeared from their site & now more seats are imprinting the precise expiration date on the carseat so parents don't have to guess.
 

emandbri

Well-known member
I have no problem using my right fit. I have no idea when it was made I can't find a date. Daniel is using it tomorrow. :D

For a high back though I would be more concerned. Like others said change in standards is the biggest reason. For example right 5 years ago there were only a handful of high back boosters with energy absorbing foam and now there are only a handful of seats that DON'T have it!
 

Maedze

New member
Ah, so they don't!

Page 2

"The Evenflo RightFit does not include an expiry date, as this model was introduced prior to this practice coming to the fore. Any RightFit that has been in storage and is unused, complete and not otherwise damaged is appropriate for use."


Honestly, this is ridiculous. Even without the manufacturer limiting use, NHTSA mandates that no child restraint be used after 10 years. They do have an expiration...a federal one.
 

Defrost

Moderator - CPSTI Emeritus
I certainly don't advocate using a booster past the expiration date. I've had four TBs long enough to see them expire, and in spite of the fact that they were well cared-for (if also well-used) they have clear and obvious signs of plastic degradation.

These are interior views of a TB I dismantled (which is no longer possible on the newer models.) It's hard to get pictures that really demonstrate what is clear IRL, but there were hundreds of patches where the plastic was going pale, and very few of them were visible from the outside:

IMG_1135.jpg


IMG_1134.jpg


I wouldn't risk an injury to my child just to save the $20-$40 cost of a new booster.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Honestly, this is ridiculous. Even without the manufacturer limiting use, NHTSA mandates that no child restraint be used after 10 years. They do have an expiration...a federal one.
Meh, they cover their butts enough with that warning...the labels fall off like..well...unsticky labels...rendering the seat incomplete and thus expired. But they were *extremely* sturdy plastic, nothing like other seats except maybe the Regent, a one-piece design, and as Papooses noted, less likely to lose strength over time. I still tossed my 2001 ones out a few months ago because I wasn't going to use them anymore and didn't want to hand them down to anyone else. They are also totally ugly and I doubt too many people would keep using them for that reason alone, lol. (still, best booster ever, IMO, they should make it out of gray plastic and put nicer covers on it, SO easy to buckle, and SO comfy!)
 
S

Skybase

Guest
Ah, so they don't!

Page 2

"The Evenflo RightFit does not include an expiry date, as this model was introduced prior to this practice coming to the fore. Any RightFit that has been in storage and is unused, complete and not otherwise damaged is appropriate for use."

Wait...so because this came out before they started using expiration dates....somehow this makes the plastic invulnerable and safe for use forever, if you've had it stored away, unused? Wow.....I didn't realize expiration dates had that kind of power.
Am I the only one that just lost a TON of trust in Evenflo right there...? This is an official statement from THEM???
 

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