Buying a used car seat at a garage sale or thrift shop, or from a neighbor, can be a great way to save money, but buyers beware: They can be hazardous to your child’s health.
"Parents and caregivers are strongly cautioned against utilizing used or previously owned car seats," said Terri Miller, the program coordinator at Safe Kids Georgia. (Georgia law requires children under the age of 8 to be restrained in an appropriate child safety seat in the rear of the vehicle.)
Miller said that while car seats may not appear to age, the materials deteriorate over time, generally in five to six years from their manufacturer date.
In addition, during a crash, she said, a seat can suffer fractures throughout its shell and the webbing in the harness can expand and may not be as effective in any subsequent crashes.
Regardless of the brand or model, Miller said that when buying or accepting a used car seat, parents should ask whether the seat has been in a crash, has it expired or been recalled.
“These are important questions, and if you are unable to answer them, you need to find a different car seat,” she said. “Parents do not need to buy the most expensive car seat out there. A new, unused, inexpensive seat is a better choice then a car seat that is older with an unknown history.”
The same, Miller said, is true of used baby cribs.
In response to recent deaths, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission put in place strict regulations in June prohibiting the sale of all drop-side cribs and ordering manufacturers to strengthen slats and mattress supports, make hardware more durable and subject their products to tougher testing.
From 2007 to 2010, 150 deaths were caused by strangulation or suffocation in unsafe cribs, according to the commission.
Although recycling programs aren’t popular in these parts, Miller said Safe Kids supports safely disposing of car seats.
If parents have a seat that they no longer need, she suggested they check with a local recycling program to see whether it accepts car seat shells for recycling.
“If they do not, the best thing is to dispose of the car seat,” she said. “We suggest cutting out the harness and removing the fabric and then covering the dismantled car seat in a trash bag. It is not helpful to donate seats to charity or to give them away.”
One manufacturer recently announced plans to reduce the number of its seats ending up in landfills and incinerators.
“We are committed to giving back to our environment,” said Chris Lumley, the founder of Clek. "We believe that as the producers of Clek products we should be responsible for the life cycle of everything we make and put into the world.”
Clek is taking part in a strategy companies are adopting called the Extended Producer Responsibility, a set of principles that engage brand owners to become responsible for the entire life cycle of their products, mainly the recycling of the products and assuming all or part of the economics involved with recycling, which shifts the financial burden from municipalities to the producers.
The company, Lumley said, has formed a strategic partnership network throughout Canada and the United States to manage the disassembly of their seats and recycling or reintroduction of the plastic, metal, foam and fabric components into other products. While consumers will help share the costs of shipping the seats, they will also be given a credit for that same amount, which can be used toward a future Clek product just for participating.
Miller said that anyone with questions or concerns about the safety of their car seat should contact a local Safe Kids coalition. A nationally certified passenger safety technician can help.
For additional information, log onto www.safekids.org, call Safe Kids Georgia at 404-785-7222 or email terri.miller@choa.org.
To recycle your Clek car seat:
- Package seat in a box.
- Contact Clek (customerservice@clekinc.com) or call 1-866-656-2462 to arrange to receive a shipping label. There is a fixed fee of $20, which may be paid with Visa or MasterCard.
- Clek will send you a UPS shipping label and a $20 coupon that can be used on Clek's online store or at participating retailers.
- Drop off the package at your nearest UPS store, or for an additional fee of $5, UPS will pick up your package at your location.
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