Used child car seat buyers beware

Now that we are looking after our granddaughter several times a week, we've become more familiar with child safety and have become aware of some things about car seats that some folks may not know. I write this post to prevent someone from making an uninformed decision when buying a car seat - especially a used one. It's very important to be serious when buying a car seat because it's all that's protecting the child's delicate spine, which doesn't fuse until they're two years old.

One thing all Canadians should know is that the safety regulations concerning car seats are more stringent in Canada than they are in other countries, even the United States. As a result, you might not do well to buy a seat in the US as it may not meet Canadian standards. Using a car seat that doesn't meet our standards is actually against the law. Another thing all car seat buyers need to be aware of is that every seat has a label indicating the manufactured date and/or the expiry date, which is needed to determine if the seat is still considered safe according to Canadian law. Every brand of seat has guidelines on their web site or in the seat's manual concerning how long the seat is safe for, but the usual period is 6 years from manufacture date (not purchase date). If the label is missing, you would do best to keep looking, because in this case there is no way of knowing for sure how old the seat is.

All of this isn't such a big deal when you're buying a new seat, but if you're considering a used seat, you really need to determine if the seat has 'expired' based on Canadian safety standards. Why? Because the safety folks have determined that all of the parts making up a seat degrade and wear over time and lose their ability to hold the child in place, whether it's the result of plastic fatigue, strap wear or something else. Over time, there may also be safety recalls issued on seats that may or may not be known by the seat owner. There are also newly introduced safety features that, once they become standard on new seats and are eventually deemed necessary, the standards are raised to include those new features. Since older seats do not have these latest safety features, the need for their timely expiry is only natural. In fact, all of these factors make seat expiry a sensible thing to do. It is also good to know that any seat that has been present in a vehicle while that vehicle has been in an accident is no longer considered safe - even if there was no child in the seat at the time. How can you possibly know if a used seat has been in an accident unless you know the seller intimately? You can't know for sure.

Darlene and I have seen numerous examples of people selling used child car seats that have most definitely expired. Yet, using the good brand as a justification, the seller is trying to get close to the full price that they paid new for the seat, often validating their asking price by mentioning that the seat was hardly ever used (second or third seat, stored in a garage for 4 years, etc). The problem is that it just doesn't matter. If the seat is expired, it's expired - period. Sellers might even try to pull a fast one by saying things like "The seat can be re-certified". This is absolute bunk. There is no such legitimate service in Canada.

If you find yourself in possession of an expired seat, the best thing to do is cut all of the straps, remove the padding and generally make the seat totally unusable. Perhaps see if a recycler will take the plastic shell. But never allow it to be reused by anyone. Even thrift stores won't take used car seats anymore because of the legal implications. That should tell you something.

Just so you know, police services are authorized to check the validity of child safety equipment in a vehicle and they take this new role very seriously, because it's the law. Canadian consumer information from the federal government can be found here. Used seat buying tips are here and a used seat buying checklist is here.

Darlene wanted me to give a personal recommendation for Britax brand car seats because after a lot of research she found that even though this brand can be on the expensive side, they are easier to use and are well made. She said there were a lot of great reviews out there backing up her support of this brand. The trick will be choosing the model that fits your particular car model well. The internet is a great source of information regarding this. Make sure you install the seat exactly according to instructions. I don't know if this is a common service elsewhere, but in Calgary, the fire stations will gladly help you install the seat properly.