Thank you to the Parent Club reader who sent this in…
“I have many car seats for my boys…8 in total – two in each of my cars and two for my parents car who watch the boys for us two days a week and two expired convertible booster seats, replaced just this week (and that is only counting the ones I currently have, not the two infant car seats I have already gotten rid of or or the three in one alpha omega I have long since passed on).
My issue is that these seats “expire”, I believe they are only supposed to be used for 5 years…and then they should be disposed of…(another major issue I have…disposal of these items is disgusting…
My real problem here is that the seats are sold with the obvious intention of being used for two stages of a childs car seats needs, but you can’t actually use them for the entire time they are needed if you don’t want to use them past the expiration date. And also that there seems to be no real way to recycle the seats.
I found the following quote online “Dorel has been considering a car seat recycling program, Leckner says, but added that there has been no real demand from consumers for such a program.”.
How can there not be a real demand from consumers for such a program?? I think we should demand it, in fact we insist on it!! I am so tired of all the work I do at home and work and in my community to make sure each piece of TRASH goes in the right bin, and then there just does not seem to be a right bin for these items…granted maybe I do have too many of them…but I would not need so many if they did not expire!!!
OK so that is the end of my rant…anything you think we can do about it? I found the statement from dorel to be both surprising and disappointing, in this age of green companies I am surprised any large organization would make such a statement and then to let it be posted on the Internet…how is it that this is not causing uproar among all of us green living parents!!!
The Transport Canada website presents their stand on car seat expiry dates HERE along with Canadian car seat manufacturers and ‘useful life’ expectancies.
Apparently, to dispose of a car seat one should “remove all harnessing, all padding, and place the shell and car seat parts in separate dark coloured garbage bags.”
Parent Club – what do you think of car seats in Canada? – chime in through the comments…
Question: if the plastic in a car seat/booster is compromised over time because of cold/heat – then what about the plastic dashboards that house airbags in our vehicles? Should not all plastic "parts" within a vehicle have expiry dates -as car seats – to ensure safety of all passengers?Makes one wonder why only car seats have expiry dates…
In my opinion, much like many other expiry dates, it is a marketing ploy to make you buy new products. While I do get that car seats can and should expire, (for example using the car seat from your 16 yr old nephew that doesn't have the 5 point harness is a bad idea likely) I feel that it's a judgement call. I will take a good hard look at my car seats at their expiry date point and make a decision then. I try to take exceptional care of my things and have the utmost confidence that they will be fine. I think it is to protect themselves (the companies) against people who do not have common sense so that when and if (heaven forbid) something goes wrong they can say that the seat was expired. Again, just my humble opinion.