Questions

[Whitney]

Ok I have a couple of questions...

1) How unsafe is it to use a car seat that's expired? Or will expire soon? I'm asking because I have a combo carseat and stroller that I want to sell, it however expires next year. Its never been in an accident and is in great condition - but I dont want to sell anything that is going to be dangerous.

2) How do you know if a carseat you have is on a recall list?

[Marissa]

It is unsafe to use expired carseats because with time plastic rots and it would not be safe at all since the plastic can break off in an impact like from the harness area to set as an example..........here is a link about an expired carseat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvCRz7BRAM0 this link says 6 years but it all depends on the maker. If you sell your carseat just make sure you disclose to the buyer that it expires in a year and that they should get rid of it after taht time.........or give them the exact expiration date. Then again you have ppl who can care less...........

You can go to the makers website to find out if your carseat has been in a recall simply by the serial number.

Hope this helps

[Whitney]

Oh if there's a 6 year life on a carseat then mine (Hailey's) doesn't expire until 2011.

I dont even know if the one Carter is in has a serial number - I'll have to check when I go down to my car. It was given to me, but I have noticed that when we go shopping and I go to hook the carseat into the basket - it wont sit right, and for fear of him falling I put him in the grocery part of the basket, it takes up so much room that I have to almost do 2 shopping trips to get what I need.

[Marissa]

Yeah most carseats expire in 6 years however some do have an expiration date on them, for instance my Graco Safeseat has an expiration date on it.......versus a date of whem it was manufactured

[Whitney]

I will DEFINITELY look for that when I get home on the travel system.

[newbiemom]

I have a question about safety ratings - is there somewhere I can go to check how safe our car seat is & others, as well? We have a Britax Marathon - we bought it b/c we heard that they had gotten good safety ratings... but from who??
My parents are looking to buy a car seat so we don't have to keep switching ours out of our car but I don't think they want to spend that much if they don't have to... DD won't be going on very long car rides w/ them so I'm mainly concerned about safety, less so about comfort or ease of installation, etc.
Thanks!

[Marissa]

ALL carseats are SAFE when installed correctly, there is not a safer than the other. The trick is how you install the seat, by all means Britax seats are the easiest to install!! I have installed a few seats and geez they make me sweat just getting them in correct for example the Cosco Scenera and the Evenflo Triumph Advance while using the seatbelt.

Consumer reports are not good ones to look at when trying to rate carseats.

I visit the IVillage carseat forum a lot and those ladies are the first ones to tell you that you should not rely on consumer reports.

[newbiemom]

Well, I guess it's good that all seats are safe, but there must be some difference other than ease of installation, right? Maybe not though!
I just remember seeing a bunch of supposed safety crash tests using a bunch of different brands of car seats - I'm not sure who conducted the test or whatever but I thought a couple of them had really bad reviews... like some of the infant seats were flying off the bases?! Not that it applies to us, b/c we're looking for a toddler seat. It was just pretty shocking.

[Marissa]

Yeah there have been test crashes with the seats that become ejected from the bases. I think I saw those and on one seat the child dummywas to big for the infant seat. There are differences in carseats regarding weight limits, heigh limits, craftsmanship. By all means there is a huge difference between a Britax and a Cosco seat........the quality is Extremly better on Britax, however both are safe when installed correctly. All seats on the market have to pass safety regulations, however there are still recalls from time to time and thats why it is important to register your seat when you buy it.

If you are looking for a seat, I would go for a Britax Marathon, a Graco MyRide, and or Evenflo Triumph Advance I have never personally installed a Graco MyRide but I have to say taht the easiest to install are the Britax seats, they are great investments ;-)