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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
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Any reason not to use a used car seat if it hasn't been in an accident?

jetgrrrljetgrrrl member
in Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
My BIL and SIL are offering us their old car seats for their kids - they're identical seats that are probably 8 or 9 years old, so granted they are old. They don't have LATCH, you need to use the seatbelt. They've never been in an accident or anything; I do need to do a search to make sure they weren't recalled. We would like to have another car seat for a car that we only use occasionally for in-town trips, and I really don't want to spend another $200. Any reason why we shouldn't use one of these seats? (they are disgustingly filthy but I'm planning to clean them).
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Re: Any reason not to use a used car seat if it hasn't been in an accident?

  • KatieRL1979KatieRL1979
    The general rule is if it's over 5 years old it should be replaced. 
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  • carlab44carlab44 member
    If they are 8 or 9 years old they are most likely expired. I wouldn't use an expired car seat (most car seats expire after 5 years or so depending on the manufacturer).
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  • Shayna0182Shayna0182 member

    8-9 years is too old.  If you're worried about cost, why not buy a Cosco Scenera.  They're about $40.00, and you don't have to worry that your seat is up to date. 

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  • mittensonkittensmittensonkittens member
    Carseats generally "expire" after around 6 years.  My engineering background leads me to assume this is because they are plastic and the material properties degrade over time (expecially with hot/cold temp cycles in a car), meaning that after some point they would no longer meet the crash standards that they did when they were new.  There is likely a decent margin on the expiration date, but 8 or 9 years is well beyond the 6 year mark (if that was indeed the expiration).  You can get a new carseat for less than $200, Cosco has one that is highly rated but not the most comfortable, which shouldn't matter for short infrequent trips.  Or you could just move your other carseat to the other car when you need it.  I wouldn't use the old seats.
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  • jillianfriesjillianfries

    imagems.mittens:
    Carseats generally "expire" after around 6 years.  My engineering background leads me to assume this is because they are plastic and the material properties degrade over time (expecially with hot/cold temp cycles in a car), meaning that after some point they would no longer meet the crash standards that they did when they were new.  There is likely a decent margin on the expiration date, but 8 or 9 years is well beyond the 6 year mark (if that was indeed the expiration).  You can get a new carseat for less than $200, Cosco has one that is highly rated but not the most comfortable, which shouldn't matter for short infrequent trips.  Or you could just move your other carseat to the other car when you need it.  I wouldn't use the old seats.

    Exactly the bold part.

    There are a lot of seats less than 200 dollars. 

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  • ohfourohfour member

    They are probably expired. If you need something cheap right now, try this.
    Click

    $39. It RF to 35lbs. You would probably need another seat at some point as it only FF to 40lbs, though.

    If you have $125 available, Walmart has free shipping to home. This one will get you to 65lbs FF until it's time for a booster: Click
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