In the market for a new car seat or stroller? Target is running their Car Seat Trade-in Event from Sunday, April 22 through Saturday, May 5, 2018. Simply bring in an old car seat or car seat base into a Target store and they will give you a 20% off coupon toward a new car seat, booster seat, car seat base, travel system or stroller. Coupons can be applied to both in-store and online purchases through May 19, 2018.
Certainly, re-use if you can, but car seats actually “expire” after 5-6 years or any sort of accident. The plastics degrade over time (it sits in your car all day) and may no longer handle the extreme stress of a car accident. All car seats made after 2009 should be marked with an expiration date by the manufacturer. In addition, many places don’t accept car seats for recycling. Target will recycle your car seat “to create new products such as grocery carts, plastic buckets and construction materials such as steel beams and carpet padding”.
I’ve long been befuddled at how it is that after 5-6 years there’s a contingency that says carseats are no longer safe, because of the plastics. All our cars have a lot of plastic in their interiors. After 5-6 years, are they presenting a safety hazard that we’re not acknowledging?
If they’re not, why are the car seats being made so differently?
Or, does is there a source involved that’s good at leveraging fears of being a bad parent, has a motive to sell more car seats?
I don’t know the answer, and can only speculate. Some seats use a plastic part in combination with a vehicle safety belt as the connection. A hook, a notch, a clasp, etc. A vehicle safety belt is pretty durable, hard to see it going bad after 10 years, but a plastic bit would be the weak point. Also, the padding on a infant carrier is often some sort of styrofoam. That might compress or degrade over time as well. I’m sure it’s part science and part fear of liability. 6 years is just an estimate, I’m sure it doesn’t magically blow up at that point. I’ve rented some rundown car seats in out-of-the-way places that I’ve definitely had my doubts about, though.