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How Long Does A Car Seat Last

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How To Make Your Leather Car Seats Last A Lifetime

Length of time to keep children in rear-facing car seats | FOX 7 Austin

They say nothing lasts forever. Sure, you can’t expect your things to last for half a century, but you can certainly make them last for a decade or two. Leather car seat covers is a good example of something that’s valuable enough to be cared for and used for many years. A set of real high-quality leather car seat covers can easily cost $400-$500, much more if you buy fine-grain varieties which are considered the cream of the crop.

Caring for leather isn’t simple if you’re aiming to use it for many years. In fact, you will need regular maintenance to keep your leather car seats in the best condition. Here are some tips to prolong the life of your leather car seat covers.

  • Don’t expose your car seats to extreme temperatures.

If your car seats are exposed to very hot temperatures, they can dry up and chip off. The natural moisture inside the fabric may disappear and cause wrinkling and tearing. In cold temperatures, the material can also dry up and become brittle and easy to tear. If you can afford adding an HVAC system to your garage, it would be the best way to keep your leather seats in room temperature.

  • Condition your leather car seats regularly.
  • Use a soft microfiber towel to wipe off dust and debris regularly.

While you do not need to condition daily, don’t let dirt, dust, and grime accumulate on your leather car seats. Use a soft microfiber towel to wipe away the foreign substances which may later on damage your leather.

Can I Use The Doona As A Stroller For Longer

Unfortunately the Doona can’t be used as a stroller for an older child, so once your infant has outgrown the infant car seat, it’s time for a stroller that can accomodate your infant into their toddler or preschool years. If you travel often, you may want to choose from one of the many available Lightweight Strollers, and some can even fit in the overhead bin of an airplane! If you’d like your next stroller to have more features, such as all-terrain tires, a larger storage basket, or the option to add a second seat, you may want to look at these Convertible Strollers or Single Strollers.

Read our Stroller Buying Guide to see which stroller will best fit your needs, and shop the Doona collection below!

Where Is A Car Seats Expiration Date

Each and every car seat comes from the manufacturer with a white label. As the lifespan depends on the manufacturer, each car seat will have its own expiration date denoted on that white label. Youll have to give your car seat a once-over or look on the manufacturers website to find out where yours is.

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Evolution Of Technology And Safety Regulations

As technology improves and standards change, car seat regulations and legislation evolve. An old car seat might not meet new safety standards or take advantage of the latest developments to ensure the maximal safety of your child.

The LATCH system, for example, that greatly helps improve the proper installation of an infant car seat, didnt even exist before 2002.

Some of the new safety regulations can also become new legal obligations in some States. So you should always make sure that your infant car seat is legal.

Important to know

You should never buy a second-hand infant car seat if you dont know exactly how it what used and how long it has before expiring. Car seats that have been damaged or involved in an accident will not function properly and might be dangerous to your child.

Even if the seat is less than six years old, you should thoroughly inspect every component to make sure that nothing has been damaged and the seat will function properly to protect your child.

How To Tell If A Booster Seat Is Past Its Prime

How Long Do Car Seats Last? (Car Seat Expiration)

There are a number of ways to locate a booster seats expiration date. For one, you can refer to the manufacturers website. Look up the model number and manufactured year to locate the information for which youre looking.

If you cannot find the information on the website, or if youre out and about and want to locate it the old-fashioned way, look under your childs seat or on the back of it .

Most manufacturers place a white sticker or a stamp in one of these two locations that inform parents of the expiration date. Others stamp the expiration date into the plastic near the manufacture date.

Some manufactures include a strict Do Not Use By date, while others have parents calculate the date from the date of manufacture. Most car seats are good for anywhere between five and ten years.

You may have to move aside some material to find the information. If the car seat does not include a sticker or stamp, assume that the seat is unfit for use.

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Changing Regulations And Standards

Transportation agencies, professional medical associations , and car seat manufacturers are constantly conducting and evaluating safety and crash tests. This is a good thing for parents everywhere.

Also, technology is forever evolving. This means that car seat safety stats can be improved with as new features, materials, or technologies are introduced.

Say you buy a car seat that is rear-facing and will hold your child up to a certain weight, but then the weight guidelines change for a rear-facing seat. It may not be the law that you have to replace your seat, but the manufacturer may discontinue it and stop making replacement parts not to mention, you no longer have the safest seat possible for your little one.

An expiration date may account for these changes and makes it less likely that youll have a seat thats not up to snuff.

How Long Are Car Seats Good For Essential Expiration Information For The Most Popular Brands

The exact number varies from one seat to another. Although, the service life for most models ranges from six to 10 years. Most manufacturers emboss the car seat expiration date somewhere on the unit, while others put it on the product manual.

To help you get answers, we listed the service life and essential expiration information for 10 of the most popular car seat brands.

We also added links to their contact pages and phone numbers in case you need to speak to customer support. Just make sure you have the seats model and serial number as representatives need those details to answer questions specific to your car seat.

Note: Logos and product names are the property of their respective owners.

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Car Seat Lifespan List 2022 Update

Please use this list to help you establish your car seat lifespan.

If you need some guidance to determine the date of manufacture of your car seat, please refer to our article How to Read a Car Seat Date Stamp. You will use this date to calculate your car seat expiry date.

You will see reference to , and alongside some brand names. This refers to the safety standard the seat is manufactured to. Child restraints of the same brand which have been manufactured to different safety standards may have different lifespans. For this reason, its important you know the safety standard of your car seat. If you dont have this information, you can find it easily. How you do this is explained in our article, Car Seat Safety Standards NZ.

We have endeavoured to ensure this list is as comprehensive as possible. However, with the vast number of child restraints on the market currently, as well as those sold previously and since discontinued, there will be some that have not made the list. We welcome any information on amendments, updates, additions or corrections. Please feel free to if you have any information on car seat lifespans which we have not included.

All brands and models are listed in alphabetical order.

When Does The Doona Expire

How Long Should You Keep a Child in a Car Seat?

The manufacturer recommends that you discontinue use of your Doona infant car seat after it has reached 6 years from the date of manufacture. How can you find out when yours was manufactured? Just refer to the sticker located on the underside of your Doona car seat for the date of manufacture – it’ll be found on the white sticker with a barcode, and will also have the serial number of your car seat which will be helpful when registering your car seat with the manufacturer.

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A Final Word For Booster Seat Expiration

Manufacturers put expiration dates on their booster seats for a reason: to keep your child safe. The date is not there to convince you to buy new seats every five years or so, or because the government said it has to be there.

In fact, the government has no such regulation regarding booster seat expiration. It is there as a precautionary measure, and to ensure that your child has the most up-to-date and effective safety seat available.

Before buying a car seat, always check the expiration date, and if there isnt one, find a different model.

You can also register your car seat at the manufacturers website. Doing so will ensure that you receive the most up-to-date information regarding your booster seat and that if there are any recalls, you will be the first to know about them.

For more information regarding your childs safety seat, reach out to the manufacturer directly.

Featured Image via Flickr

How Long Do Child Car Seats Last

While it is not unreasonable to think in this new day and age how companies and legislation are only used in the perpetual hunt for your wallet, in this specific case, it is not the truth. We need to throw away the misconception that child car seats can last forever until they tear, as that tearing can come during an accident, which is the exact thing we are trying to prevent.

In fact, the average time one child car seat can safely function is six years. This obviously doesnt mean that it is useless the moment this period passes and there are even seats where the manufacturer guarantees the safety and reliability of the seat up to ten years. However, once you are nearing the end of the seat manufacturer guarantee, you should start thinking about replacing the seat altogether.

If you are a first-time parent, and you have bought a new seat, you will probably never have to check the date on the seat, as your child will outgrow it much faster than the materials inside it start to lose. The problem comes if you have multiple children, of different ages, and you would prefer not to spend the already tight budget on more seats, or you think about getting one second-hand.

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Standards Are Always Changing

A lot of people view safety standards as a way for manufacturers to pump more money from them, but the truth is that safety standards are in place for a very valid reason: to protect people.

Back in the day, cars didnt have three-point belt systems, they merely had lap belts, which may have kept individuals from flying through windshields, but they did nothing to prevent their faces from hitting the steering columns.

Before the 1930s, vehicles didnt have brake lights, turn signals or hydraulic brake systems, but when manufacturers discovered how helpful those features were, they became standard.

The point is, standards arent standard until their benefits are fully realized. When car seats standards change, its for a very good reason. And change they do often.

Manufacturers anticipate that car seat standards will evolve very five to 10 years, which is why most assign a lifespan of about five to 10 years to each make and model of their car or booster seats.

For instance, before 2002, car seats were not secured with the LATCH system or the Lower Anchor and Tethers for Children system.

Today, however, such a system is standard on all car seats, and many car manufacturers have even revised their standards to ensure that all back seats contain the necessary anchors.

Car Seat Lifespan List S To Z

How Long Should I Keep My Child Rear

Establish your car seats date of manufacture and use this table to calculate the car seat expiry.

*Lifespan from DOP only applies if DOP is known.** Look for Do not use after 20XX stamped onto back of seat shell.*** These particular DOP lifespans apply to original purchaser only. If not original purchaser, or if purchase date is unknown, then lifespan reverts to DOM .**** The tether on Diono seats can give a clue as to their lifespan. A split tether indicates a split lifespan . A single tether indicates a single lifespan .

This list is to be referred to as a guide only. Always check the product itself for any statement or labeling regarding lifespan.

We have confirmed the information contained in this list by local or international manufacturers, distributors, suppliers or their websites. While we have made every attempt to ensure that the information contained in this list has been obtained from reliable sources, SitTight is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information.

This list is current as at January 2022 but may change at any time without notice.

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When Do Car Seats Expire How Long Are Car Seats Good For

Most car seats expire six years after their manufacturing date. The exact validity period might vary a little bit by brand or model, so you should always check the expiry note on your seat and its base.

How can you check your car seat expiration date? In most cases, you will find a sticker underneath the seat with its expiry date. The same applies to the seat base. Just turn over the seat and you should find it on the back. Alternatively, some brands indicate the expiry date on the shell behind the cushion. Remove the seat cushion and check there if it isnt on the back.

If you are unable to find the expiration date of your seat, call its manufacturer and ask for help. You should never use a seat without confirming first that it is still safe for your child.

Helpful note

Safety Seat Life Cycle

There are multiple reasons why a car seat becomes less reliable the more time pass, but the shortest explanation is material fatigue. Not to get all science, the material in the latches, the harness and the seat itself becomes decomposed on the molecular level or becomes oxidized, making it prone to crumbling or breaking, which becomes most evident when the material is under a lot of stress, like in an accident.

This is why even when the seat may look good and there are no visible tears, it is still unsafe to use. There were multiple crash tests that have proven that using expired safety seats can make them not only useless as a safety precaution but even more dangerous once the seat is left to age for a long time. When determining exactly how long can a car seat last we first need to know about which type of seat are we talking about?

The shortest lifespan of all safety seats is for ones that are used the shortest, meaning the rear-facing car seats for toddlers and infants, as they have the base that starts to crumble quickly after the six-year period has expired. Some manufacturers do offer longer warranties, but judging from the test you should opt to be on the safer side and not to use these seats for too long.

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Uppababy Mesa Safety Ratings And Crash Test Results

Weve said it before: every car seat sold in the U.S. meets the minimum Federal safety standards. BUT, it wont help you if your car seat isnt installed properly. Its unfortunate, but weve seen too many parents install their infant seat incorrectly, thus putting their baby at risk in case of an accident.

Often times, parents install their car seat improperly because they cant tell precisely if its at the right angle with the road.

The UPPAbaby MESA addresses that problem head-on. Just like the Chicco KeyFit 30, its mostly thanks to a simple but very effective and well-designed car seat base.

The MESA base, that comes bundled with the car seat if you purchase it on , has a few special features that will help you safely secure it to your car every time.

It starts with the inclination level indicators. Two small bubble indicators, one on each side of the base, help you see exactly what the proper installation angle should be. Its simple but very effective. We wish all the other infant car seat manufacturers would include something similar on their own base.

In addition, the MESA base also has a tension indicator window to tell you when the LATCH connectors are properly installed. The base will tell you when the LATCH system is sufficiently tight to ensure maximum safety.

Its as simple as that! These two simple features help you make sure that the MESA base is correctly installed every time. No need to think twice or worry about it.

Helpful note

Are Manufacturers Required To Give An Expiration Date

How to Install a Car Seat | Consumer Reports

No. There is no government regulation that requires an expiration date on car seats in the United States. However, NHTSA does recommend expiration dates due to the possible changes in regulations over time. For instance, for the first almost 10 years, RideSafer vests did not have an expiration date. The manufacturer added an expiration date per NHTSAs request.

Car seat manufacturers decide them based on the expected useful life of their product. Most car seats expire after 6 to 7 years from the date of manufacturer. Note that is not the date of purchase it could have sat on the store shelf for months or longer. RideSafer vests currently have a 10-year expiration date.

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