Is there any reason why car seats have an expiration date? Is it just BS or are there legitimate safety concerns? Btw I don’t have kids, so I’m not basing any decisions on this post.
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I’ve looked into this claim a number of times, and my conclusion has always been that it was a concern raised by some safety advocates that the industry then happily jumped on. But there are basically zero studies confirming what is essentially a hypothesis.
[This article](https://www.mother.ly/news/do-car-seats-really-expire) goes into the lack of evidence.
The biggest concern for me, as noted in the article, is the environmental cost of tossing used carseats that are otherwise in working condition. Obviously, carseats that have been in an accident should never be used again, but there are plenty of carseats that will never see anything remotely close to an accident.
[This article](https://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1109010_why-car-seats-expire) explains why carseats *do* expire. The two reasons given are that the technology of carseats becomes out-of-date and that the materials degrade. These are both concerns that would apply to the car itself. It’s one reason I would be wary of buying a car that is, say over 10-12 years old. But just five or six years old?
Similarly, the plastics, straps and other materials that make up a carseat are largely the same as those used in the car itself. Again, no one is worried about a car’s control knobs degrading through light exposure.
[This article](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191010085752.htm) is sometimes cited by these articles to note that degradation of polystyrene over time through sunlight exposure. Again, polystyrene is [used in other car components](https://www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org/polystyrene/) as well. And that articles talks about degradation over “decades or centuries” as opposed to thousands of years. I would also note that polystyrene in carseats wouldn’t ordinarily be exposed directly to sunlight. It’s material covered by or embedded within other layers (same as your car).
The article I linked about why carseats expire doesn’t otherwise cite any other evidence. Instead it just casually says to look at how poorly your lawnchair sitting in the backyard has fared. Not exactly scientific proof.
Years ago, probably about 10 or so, I found an early article discussing the expiration dates, and one manufacturer flatout admitted that there was no reason a carseat not in involved in an accident would degrade simply through time.
On a final note, the “baby junk” industry is, IMO, one of the most shameless pushers of products that most parents don’t need. Any parent can tell you how ridiculous, unnecessary and over specialized many baby products are. The companies know that they can brew concerns over safety, well being, and child development into profit-margin gold.
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