Child car seats have expiration date | Toledo, Ohio child injury attorney

You may have heard that car seats have expiration dates.  It's true, they do.  There are concrete and important reasons why we must retire our trusty seats after a certain time. One of the Charles E. Boyk Law Office staff is expecting and was checking to see if she could use the car seat that she had when her son was born a couple years ago.

You need to check the manufactures label which is normally on the side of the car seat itself. These labels also may include model, serial and batch numbers. The companies don't always make this process easy. This is especially true when the date is found molded into the plastic.  We did our best to help you find the appropriate information for certain child seats. If you need more guidance finding this information on your particular model, contact your manufacturer or post your question and we'll try and assist you. 

If you've looked at the photos, you understand that there are indeed manufacturer expiration dates. We found that dates can be as many as 8 years and in some cases as little as 5. Parents should know that NHTSA instructs its techs and both Safe Kids and the Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association agree that no seat should be used for more than a period of 6 years from its date of manufacture. 

What should the public take from this?  They should note both experts and seat manufacturers agree that seats do have a finite lifespan. Best practice would be to retire that seat after 6 years.  That is of course unless your car seat manufacturer states that its lifespan is 5 years.  Always consult your seat markings, labels and manual for this information. Check out some of the following blogs on reasons why the child safety seats expire.

If you or someone you know has a child who has been injured by one of child accidents listed above you need information. Contact our Ohio child accident lawyers at 800.637.8170 to order your free copy of Little Kids, Big Accidents.