carseats need dumped after five years

[madwomanacrosstheroad]

Was looking at info about car seats as my youngest dd will change to bigger one soon and came accross information that seats have a fairly limited lifespan. To clarify this i phoned maxi cosi who confirmed the lifespan of a seat is five uears due to deterioration in the plastic of the shell. This obviously has implications for the safety of the child but also potential insurance implications. These seats are marketed for ages 4 to 12, some even from 9 months to 12 years and the descriptions talk of how they adapt to the needs of the growing child.....
It certainly does not advertise that if you buy one for your child at age 4 they need replaced by the time they are 9!!!. I am aware that car seats do not confirm with up to date regulations after a number of years due to new developments but this particular model is still being sold.

I have spoken to customer services at dorel (maxi cosi) and told them how pissed of i am (especially as i need to replace two seats) and i have now emailed them that i feel misled by their carseat advertising.
Just want to make everyone aware of the safety and potential insurance implocations.

Here is th full emailexchange i had with maxi cosi just in case anyone wants to see it.
And yes, they are clearly more interested in profit than anything else. In the ideal world there would be only the safest seats available at affordable cost and without conflictin advice. I suppose at least they dealt with my complaint promptly.

-- Original message --
Subject: Lifespan of car seats
From:
CC:

Dear Karen, further to my recent telephone conversation i would like to put the following in writing.
In december 2007 i purchased 2 maxi-cosi rodi car seats (one for each car). These are advertised as suitable for ages 4-12 years and i naturally assumed that that means they will last a child until age 12 (or 36kg), provided they are well looked after and not involved in an accident.
I have only now realised that this is clearly not the case and you have confirmed that it is recommemded to dispose of a car seat after five years.
Looking at the way highback booster seats are marketed and having just re-read your website and the description of those seats i can find plenty of references to the seats growing with and adapting in line with the development of the child. I feel most reasonable people would assume if they buy one of these seats for their four year old it will last until this child does not need seats anymore.
I realise now that for the past year i have been using potentially unsafe (as past their recommended lifespan) seats and that i have to go out and buy two more seats in the next few days.
I feel shocked and misled and believe it should be made clear to purchasers of those products that they will need to be replaced at least once during the 4-12 year age period.
Yours sincerely

Good Morning S

Thank you for putting the information in writing for me. I have passed this onto my Supervisor ? Jacqui and she will be in touch will you soon

Best Regards

Good morning

Many thanks for your enquiry into Dorel Customer Care.
I took the liberty of forwarding your concerns onto our UK Training Officer, for car seats within Maxi-Cosi. It appears that because there is no use of an integral harness system in the Group 2 booster seats the life expectancy is for the lifespan of the Childs requirements, using it. We would only be very concerned if the products history wasn?t known, or indeed if it had been involved in an accident.

I sincerely hope that this reassures you with regards to your enquiry.

Kind regards

Jacqui
Dorel Customer Care Supervisor
E-mail: @dorel.eu

Sent: 14 February 2013 09:11
To: Jacqueline
Subject: RE: Lifespan of carseats

Hi Jacqui,

All manufacturers use the same or similar materials so all products will last the same length of time meaning that the Britax products will last just as long as Maxi-Cosi seats. Anything made from oil such as rubber or plastic will have a natural degradation period so our advice is general but leans more towards the second hand market where you do not know the history of the product. Also our advice does not include high back booster seats as they do not use an integral child harness, at this stage the child is using the adult seat belt which will take the impact load.
Our high back booster seats will last the life expectancy of any other high back booster seat and meet the requirements of the group category that it sits in. The customer really has nothing to be concerned about from what I have read.

Best regards,

Neil

From: Jacqueline
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 9:16 AM
To: Neil
Subject: FW: Lifespan of carseats

Hi Neil,

The below is the same customer.

Many thanks,

Jacqui
Customer Care

From: Karen
Sent: 14 February 2013 08:05
To: Jacqueline
Subject: FW: Lifespan of carseats

Karen
From:
Sent: 13 February 2013 18:29
To: Karen
Subject: Lifespan of carseats

Hi karen, just wanted to add that it appears that britax has a 10 year lifespan. I can assure you that had i been aware that a similar producy with similar functions features and safetyratings and price would effectively work out at half the price as it did not need to be replaced just over half way through the time you need to use it, i would not have purchased it.
S