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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Car seat expirations are basically (but not entirely) scams. There is some truth to the idea that materials degrade over time, but car seats expire very quickly and there no real evidence to back up the claim that old car seats are less safe. Does this mean there is clearly no safety difference between new and old car seats? No. But there is nothing magical about the random cutoff they choose and frankly it seems very conservative to me. I would personally be comfortable using an expired seat.

https://www.mother.ly/parenting/safety/car-seat-safety/do-car-seats-really-expire/[/quote]

While there is nothing magical about the cutoff date, there is science behind it as well.  Most manufacturer's are required to do safety studies of their products or adhere to safety regulations provided by vendors for components that they use.  Just like in the pharmaceutical industry, expiration dates have a meaning.  It's up to you, the end user, to decide how much to adhere to them.  In the pharmaceutical industry, the expiration date of medications is when the medication loses 10% of its efficacy.  So you can take expired medication, it just will be below 90% of the efficacy of when it was prescribed for you.  You have to use some common sense or consult with your physician about dosage and effect if you are using expired medication.

Likewise, in car seats and other items that use manufactured plastic, styrofoam and nylon/polyester all have measurable strength factors.  The strength factors of the materials are tested regularly by the vendor (not the car seat manufacturer, but the vendor they buy those materials from) for tensile strength.  They are measured over years with aging being a factor.  As the materials age, they test the amount of force that they are resistant to.  When a product drops below a certain level, it is no longer deemed safe to use.  In the case of car seats, NTSB and other safety organizations rate how much force an object is required to withstand to be safe to market.  They use statistics based on annual accidents and injuries and deaths compiled over years to determine what level of force is deemed the safest to protect against to provent the most potential deaths.  When the materials are no longer rated to withstand the required level of force resistance, that is when the product will expire.  Since different manufacturers use different sources of plastic, styrofoam, nylon, etc. the expiration date will vary.  I've seen expiration dates between 5-8 years on child safety products like car seats.

As for use, you can use an expired car seat, but just know that when you do, your child is less safe from high speed and high force accidents.  Remember that unlike the front seat passengers, there are no air bags, so the car seat is the primary protection for your child from being injured by impact or thrown out of the seat by force.  In a high speed accident, like highway accidents, expired car seats and the plastic and styrofoam components will crush from less force than current models, the straps will break from less force than current models and the risk is greater that your child can be injured or killed in an accident.  The expired car seat is going to be fine for lower speed and lower impact accidents, but since no one can predict whether you will be in an accident and at what speeds, you are accepting the risk for your child if you use an expired car seat.

The only regulations that are out there are that you cannot sell or donate expired car seats.  You can destroy them (if you are just discarding, there are guidelines for how to make them unusable before disposing) or you can use them for trade-ins and discounts on future purchases and those vendors are required to destroy the seats before discarding them.[/quote]

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