Why car seats expire
It is not something people typically think about every day but the car seats we use for our kids have a limited shelf life.

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -
It is not something people typically think about every day but the car seats we use for our kids have a limited shelf life.
Car seats are an investment and are often passed down from child to child in a family but the seats themselves were not made to last forever.
"The majority of people don't realize there's an expiration date on them," explained Bill McMahon, injury prevention coordinator at Akron Children's Hospital Mahoning Valley.
Car seats do expire.
They are generally good for six years from the date of manufacture, only a few may last longer.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the generally accepted expiration date is about six years from the date of manufacture and many manufacturers increasingly have specific models that do not expire for eight or 10 years.
"What day was it manufactured on and most manufacturers put on there what day it's going to expire on," McMahon said.
He added that "if it just comes with the manufacturing date just know the rule of thumb is six years."
Look for the label on the sides or the base of the car seat.
"We would never recommend you keep a child in an expired car seat just because we dont know how it was tested, the level it was tested at, what does the car seat manufacturer say," said McMahon.
Manufacturers say older car seats may not provide as much protection.
According to the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, some of the considerations for a seat's useful life include crash history.
Knowing the full history of a seat is important because if it has been in a crash you need to get rid of it and even a minor crash can cause some damage.
Safety regulations continue to improve plus there are voluntary improvements and technology gets better.
Plus over time parts may become lost or damaged.
"You may not notice that crack that's in the back. It's six years old, seven years old and we had a bad winter and that extreme cold was just enough to make the smallest hairline crack or fracture in some of the slot harnesses and that little crack could make the whole harness come undone in the event of an accident," described McMahon.
The board president of the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Michael Gittelman, MD, said you likely won't be able to see the breakdown with the naked eye.
He mentioned that the belts can become slightly elastic after years of use, older models aren't tested, recalls may have happened, and as designs change manufacturers don't want to maintain an inventory of older parts.
Another consideration for manufacturers is that labels and instructions can be lost over time and are often changed or improved based on research and field performance.
Once a car seat has expired you shouldn't just set it out at the curb. Experts say remove the padding, cut the harnesses and label the plastic shell in permanent marker as "Expired. Do not use."
"Even cutting it underneath here with the harness pull strap and the rest of the straps because you dont want anybody picking it up and using it for their child if it's expired or you dont want someone coming along and picking it up and trying to sell it at their garage sale," McMahon said.
McMahon tells families don't ever buy a car seat at a garage sale or a second hand store because you don't know if the car seat was ever in a crash or if it has been manipulated.