How Long Are Britax Car Seats Good For

Expiration Date If You Have A Nuna Car Seat:

• Infant Car Seat : The expiration date will be visible in three places: Firstly, at the back of the seat shell. Secondly, on the base itself. And thirdly, in your user manual. The Pipa Series can be used for up to 7 years after the date of manufacture.
• Convertible Car Seat : The Rava car seat expires 10 years after the date of manufacture. Also, the label is found on the bottom of your car seat.
• Harness to Booster Car Seat : The Aace expires within 10 years of the date of manufacture. Its label can also be found on the bottom of your seat.
• All-in-One Car Seat : The label will be found on the bottom of your seat. The Exec will expire 10 years after the date of manufacture. In many cases, however, this is the only seat you will ever need!

Here are some examples of what the expiration date label may look like for NUNA car seats:

Expiration Date If You Have A Graco Car Seat:

• Infant Car Seats: The seat will expire 7 years after the date of manufacture on the label and the date label can be found on the back of the seat.
• Convertible Car Seats: The expiration date for convertible car seats is 10 years after the date of manufacture. Convertible car seats expire 10 years after the date of manufacture. In addition, the date label is found on the back of your car seat.
• All-in-One Car Seats: These seats need to be tossed and their use discontinued 10 years after the date of manufacture. The label can also be found on the back of the seat.
• Harness Boosters: Discontinue use and toss this seat 10 years after the manufacture date listed on the back of the seat, because it will be expired.
• Belt-Positioning Booster Seats: These seats expire 10 years after the manufacture date listed on the label that is affixed to the back of the seat.

Here are some examples of what the expiration date label might look like for GRACO car seats:

Selecting The Right Car Seat

The AAP advises parents to keep their toddlers in rear-facing car seats until age two, or until they reach the maximum height and weight for their seat. To begin, parents will consider their childs age and weight these factors will indicate which seat style is safest for protecting the child.

• Infant: Infant car seats are used for babies from birth to up to 35 pounds . Infant seats are rear-facing and typically include a handle allowing the carrier to click in and out of the installed car seat base.
• Convertible: Convertible car seats are used for babies and toddlers up to 50 pounds . Convertible seats can be used for an extended time period as they convert from rear- to front-facing once the child has met recommended age/weight limits.
• Booster: Belt-positioning booster seats are used for children who exceed the height/weight limits for their forward-facing car seats. Boosters can be backless or high back and are typically used until children reach about 4 feet 9 inches .

Child passenger safety laws vary by state. Parents should be aware of laws in their state and can visit the IIHS List of State Laws for Vehicle Restraints.

Examine vehicle bench space: When selecting a car seat, parents will want to examine the bench space in their vehicle, taking careful notice of both type of seat belt and the amount of space. For vehicles with little room in the back seat, a car seat with a narrower base might be a better option.

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Do Car Seat Bases Expire

You know your infants car seat will expire someday, but what about the base it sits on? Car seats are a big investment, and as parents we try to save money wherever we can. Can you save the car seat base to use with a new seat in the future, or will it expire?

Car seat bases are often used with infant car seats and typically expire at the same time as the seat they are sold with. Car seat bases purchased separately should have an expiration date clearly listed on the product and both car seats and their bases should be replaced in the event of a moderate or severe car crash.

Lets take a look at why car seat bases expire and how to find out the expiration information for your specific brand.

Safety 1st Car Seat Expiration Dates

Safety 1st car seats have the expiration date embossed on the seat and listed in the manual. Every single car seat made by Safety 1st has a website page explaining their car seat expiration dates. Please check out your car seat model on their expiration page. All of their car seats have a life span of 6-10 years with the newer car seats including infant, convertible, and booster lasting longer than previous models. Find the date of your car seat form Safety 1st under the seat on the label.

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Dont Buy Second Hand Car Seats

Safety experts recommend that you avoid secondhand car seats altogether. You can never be totally sure that it hasnt been involved in an accident, even when buying from family or friends.

Its not that youd be intentionally misled, just that some bumps and crunches can be forgotten easily enough, but still affect the car seat.

What Is A Britax Marathon 70 Car Seat

The Britax Marathon 70 car seat is a convertible car seat. That is, you may install the seat in either a forward-facing or rear-facing application. For children weighing between five and 40 pounds, installing the seat in its rear-facing configuration is appropriate. Children between 41 and 70 pounds may ride in a forward-facing Britax Marathon 70 car seat. The seat is generally not appropriate for children who weigh more than 70 pounds. Also, the Marathon 70 is only suitable for kids who are under 49 inches tall, regardless of weight.

Protecting children during automobile collisions is a top priority for all parents. The Britax Marathon 70 does a good job at safeguarding the wellbeing of young passengers. The seat features innovative head, shoulder and back protection. This includes patent-pending SafeCell technology, reinforcing steel bars and revolutionary restraints to hold small riders in place during front-facing accidents.

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How Do I Know When My Car Seat Expires

The useful life is set by car seat manufacture and different manufactuers have set different dates. Many people will count from when they purchased the car seat, but rather it is to be counted from the date the car seat was made. This date of manufacture will be on a sticker on the seat. This sticker is not always easy to find and many times it is underneath the car seat, it is best to check the date of manufacture prior to installing the car seat.

Even though all car seat will have a sticker indicating the date of manufacture the expiry date is not always printed on this sticker. We agree that printing the expiry date right on the sticker would make a lot of sense but different manufacturer list expiry dates differently. It may be on a separate sticker on the seat, imprinted onto the plastic somewhere on the seat, or in the manual. If the expiry date cant be found you may need to calculate the expiry from the date of manufacture to see when the seat good for us until. Here are examples of the sitcker:

Once you have located the sticker use this chart listed by Transport Canada, however since manufactures have the final say for how long a car seat their car seat is good for, different models can go beyond these dates, confirm the date with your manufacture by giving them the date of manufacture and model number found on the sticker.

I= Infant

C= Child

B= Booster

I/C = Infant and Child

C/B = Child and Booster

I/C/B = Infant, Child and Booster

Car Seat Expiration: Frequently Asked Questions

How long is a car seat base good for?

Most car seat bases are good for six years from their manufacturing date.

Why do car seats expire after 5 years?

Most car seats expire after six years because of wear and tear but also because safety regulations and new technology developments might render older models less safe to use.

How do I dispose of an expired car seat?

You should first render the seat unusable by cutting its straps. You can then try to exchange it for a discount from a retailer or dispose of it at a recycling center near you.

Do insurances replace a car seat after an accident?

Most insurance companies will replace your car seat if it was involved in an accident. You should check with your insurance policy and contact your insurer if you are unsure about your particular situation. In any case, a car seat that was involved in an accident shouldnt be used again.

Is it illegal to use an expired car seat?

Depending on where you live, it might be illegal to use an expired car seat. While the law doesnt explicitly prohibit the use of an expired car seat, some states to have proper use clauses making it mandatory to respect safety standards.

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Convertible Car Seat Installation

• Always use the top tether when you can. A tether is a strap that is attached to the top part of a car safety seat and holds the seat tightly by connecting to an anchor point in your vehicle. Check both car seat and vehicle user guides to ensure belts are used and fed according to indications.
• Position harness straps as close to the childs shoulders as possible.
• Regularly check to ensure harness straps have not twisted or tangled.

What Are The Legal Standards For Car Seats

It is mandatory to use child car seats within the EU for all children up to the heights of 1.35m or 1.5m depending on the member state.

There are currently two legal standards in Europe:

ECE R129

i-Size .

ECE R44/04

To meet ECE R44/04 approval car seats are tested in frontal collisions at 50km/h and rear collisions at 30 km/h using crash test dummies and advanced measuring instruments designed to assess the levels of protection each seat offers. ECE R44/04 approved seats can all be identified by their orange approval label.

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Manufacturer Testing Has Its Limits

When a manufacturer be it Graco, Britax, Chicco, or any number of other car seat brands tests a car seat, they dont assume youll still be cramming your 17-year-old in it and driving them to their senior prom. So it stands to reason that they dont test car seats to see how they hold up after 17 years of use.

Even all-in-one car seats ones that transform from rear-facing to forward-facing to boosters have weight or age limits, and car seat and booster use generally ends by age 12 . So car seats arent usually tested beyond about 1012 years of use.

Britax Frontier Vs Britax Pioneer

Both the Britax Frontier and the Pioneer are booster seats that come with a harness and can also upgrade to a belt-positioning booster. However, we prefer the Frontier for a few reasons. For starters, it comes with Clicktight technology while the Pioneer doesnt.

Also, despite being a bit more costly than the Pioneer, the Frontier also accommodates a higher weight class which means itll last longer. Heres a breakdown of why we prefer the Frontier to the Pioneer:

• Has Clicktight technology
• Slimmer design

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Car Accidents And Car Seats

If you are in a car accident, the safest course of action is to replace the car seat or booster seat. Even if your kid wasnt in the car but the car seat was. Car accidents involve crashes and crashes reduce the integrity of the car seat. Yes, car seats are expensive but your babys safety is worth a new seat in the event of an accident. Having said that, the NHTSA only recommend replacing seats in moderate to severe accidents. They provide some criteria for determining the whether the accident was moderate to severe. They say it doesnt have to be replaced if all of the following apply:

• Your vehicle was drive-able after the crash
• Airbags did not deploy

Each Manufacturer Will Have A Recommended Service Life Date For Individual Products

Service life recommendations are a bit like a best before date. Theyre set by the manufacturers and vary across different car seat models.

For instance, Britax has a 6-year service life for its infant or harnessed car seats, while Joie has a best before date of 5-7 years for its harnessed seats and another 7-10 years for its older child seats.

So with its new Every Stage seat , if you added the maximum time an infant and booster seat can be used, it would last around 17 years.

The service life also depends on how you use the car seat.

If you used an all-stage car seat for one child and kept it in the car while your little one grew through all the groups as anticipated, it will last beyond the full 12 years, and you wont have to change it.

However, if you were a child minder who used the seat for carrying children below 4 years then best practice, according to Joie, would be to change the seat every 5 to 7 years as you would only ever use it in the Group 0+ or Group 1 mode.

But always check with the car seat manufacturer if in any doubt.

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Further Reading Recommendations About Car Seat Expiration

We used several authoritative sources to write this guide on car seat expiration. We recommend that you read them if you want to learn more about car seat safety in general. These are also great resources if you want to understand a particular aspect of child safety or want to stay up-to-date with the latest research.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Child Passenger Safety Board have excellent in-depth resources on car safety for children. We recommend you start there:

Safety 1st Booster Car Seat Expiration Dates

Before hospital discharge with a term infant, the American Academy of Pediatrics offers guidance to pediatricians and health care providers to evaluate both health and safety for mother and child, including the availability and familiarity with an appropriate car seat for the child. Numerous factors influence car seat selection including the childs weight and the seats physical properties. However, one consideration is often overlookedthe car seats expiration date.

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Are Britax Car Seats Worth The Money

A Britax car seat, travel system like Britax B Agile, or other types of convertible car seats are pricey, as weve established. However, they are quite worth the money. They have some of the best side impact protection, they have easy installation, and when it comes to pros and cons, the pros far outweigh it.

Expiration Date If You Have A Baby Jogger Car Seat:

• CityGO Infant Car Seat: This seats manufacture date is found underneath your childs seat. On the registration card, youll see a Do not use 7 years after the manufacture date, making it very clear when to stop using the seat.
• CityView All-in-One Car Seat: The date of manufacture and Do not use after date will be indicated on the attached registration card, and the manufacture date is also found on the backside of your seat. Typically, your seat will expire 10 years after the DOM.

Here are some examples of what the expiration date label may look like for BABY JOGGER car seats:

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Britax Vehicle Seat Protector

The purpose of this seat protector is exactly as it sounds. Its meant to protect your vehicles seats from getting unsightly indents and other damage from your childs car seat.

It also helps keep your vehicle clean by catch crumbs and spills on its waterproof rubber surface. Its made with a non-slip grip and has been crash tested and approved for use with LATCH technology.

How Long Are Britax Convertible Car Seats Good For

Britax convertible car seats are usually good for 7 years from their manufacturing date. If the seat is Clicktight convertible then the lifetime is a little more which is 10 years. You may find no problem using a convertible seat after it has expired, but you should be careful to keep it in check for any problem.

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Car Seat Guide: Britax Boulevard 70

Are you in the market for a dependable convertible car seat that can last your child well into their preschool years? Look no further than the Britax Boulevard 70-G3.

The Britax Boulevard 70-G3 is truly a seat that youll have for the long haul.

Our favorite features:

• Rear facing, it will fit a child from 5 pounds to 40 pounds, and/or 49 inches tall, far surpassing many other convertible seats on the market.
• Forward facing, it will fit a child until 70 pounds, and/or 49 inches tall.
• Features 3 recline positions for child comfort and safety depending on the directional position they are utilizing.
• Removable infant body pad, and a plush, easy-to-remove cover provides comfort, and can be removed without disassembling the seat for simple cleaning.
• Quick-Adjust, No-Rethread Harness allows for the height of the shoulder harness to be changed without disassembling the entire car seat.

• Integrated steel bars strengthen the connection to the vehicle and will reduce the flex of the seat in a crash.
• True Side Impact Protection provides deep side walls with energy-absorbing EPP foam along with a head restraint which offers a double layer of EPP foam to distribute crash forces, shield from vehicle intrusion, and contain the head, neck and body while keeping them in true or aligned.
• Certified for aircraft travel
• Features an extended, 7 year expiration life.