after how many years does a car seat expire
People should not use children’s car seats and booster seats past their expiry or useful life date. Beyond this date, the car seat should be permanently discarded rather than donated to a charitable organization, second hand store, or given to friends or relatives. Each seat or booster will have a date of manufacture printed on a sticker that’s somewhere on the seat or stamped into the seat itself; as well as on the registration card that came with the seat. The car seat’s usable lifespan is often listed in the manual as well. Some seats have the expiration stamped into the plastic of the shell saying, “DO NOT USE AFTER” and then a date. Some seats require you to calculate the expiration date by counting forward from the manufacture date. Information: 1-800-333-0371. All children’s car seats and booster seats sold in Canada have an expiry or useful life date on them, even though this is not required by regulation. How do you know when your car seat or booster seat expires? All car seats and boosters have different lifespans. There is no one rule; seats can expire anywhere from 4-12 years from when they were made. To find out when your seat expires, take a look at the seat itself. It is also important to note that if you own a car seat or booster seat made before January 1, 2012, under Health Canada’s Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, you may not be able to advertise, sell, or give it away because it may not meet the latest requirements set out by Health Canada. The industry group added that while the average expiration date was 6-8 years for the majority of car seat manufacturers, in recent years the average life span for a car seat has increased to an average of 8-12 years. In Canada, all provinces and territories require infants and toddlers to be buckled up in the appropriate car seat. Several provinces also require booster seats for children who have outgrown a child car seat but are too small for a regular seat belt. Once a car seat is out of production, finding replacement parts becomes challenging, then impossible. I recently ran into this situation at a safety event: a parent came in with a seat missing a very important part and the seat was only three months shy of its expiration date. How long until my new seat expires? In our comparison chart, you can find the duration until expiration for current models. The typical lifespan of a car seat is 6 years, but some models are rated for 7, 8, and even 9 years. This depends on the materials used within the seat. A higher price doesn’t necessarily mean the seat will expire later. While all car seats do have an expiration date, it is often difficult to locate. In most cases, you can see the expiration date on the label that is usually underneath the seat or on its sides. However, the label might not show the date of expiration, but the date of manufacture. If there is only a date of manufacture, you should be aware that car seats are recommended to be used up to 5-6 years after the date of manufacture, and be careful not to confuse it with the date of purchase. However, some car seats can be used longer than 6 years. The main reason why some seats have longer expiration dates than others lies in the materials used in them.
4-12 years from when they were made.