Used bleach to clean childs car seat.. so I need to bin?

[efamcg112]

Our DD is going into new car seat and we got our older DD’s Britax Romer 360 dualix car seat down from attic. It was slightly moldy and what I didn’t realise when I removed the fabric was there was pieces of our previous child’s vomit stuck in plastic underneath which has been there for 3/4 years. Anyway…. I got it down and bleached it all down and hosed it with garden hose and bleached again and then hosed again and scrubbed a with toothbrush etc and left to dry and washed all fabric in wash machine on gentle wash. I was telling friend this and she said I need to bin the seat as once bleach is used it makes seat unsafe etc etc this never would of occurred to me before so I want some advice… a lot of bleach was used but only was on for maximum of 5 mins then was hosed down everywhere. It’s looking as good as new and working well but before I put DD in it I need to mow.. so I bin this and buy new due to the bleach or is my friend overreacting? Google also seems to be very anti bleach buy new car seat which has me really panicked that I’ve essentially wrecked the car seat. Normally I would just buy new but currently we are really really really struggling for money and would have to go without something else to get a new car seat (which is totally fine if needs be) but just would be great if not.

Thanks

Of course you can keep it. How could bleach make a car seat unsafe???????

Bleach degrades certain types of plastics.

You're advised against using bleach on car seats as it can weaken it.

I wouldn't risk using it personally.

I am fairly sure that if you used bleach on the straps they will now not be as strong. This is one of the reasons why you should never use a second hand car seat unless you know where it is from. Unscrupulous sellers will use anything to make the car seat look new. Car seats only have a life of about 8 years anyway.

I’m on a fb car seat group and they advise to throw a car seat out if it has any mould as that can weaken it, especially if the straps had mould. So even before using the bleach it may have been a goner.

definitely throw it away, it will no longer perform to standard. if you are too hard up to buy a new one, just don't use the car for a month, or whatever.

You cannot use a car seat after bleach

I’m afraid bleach will compromise the integrity of materials and you mustn’t use it now. It potentially won’t perform in an accident and you’d be risking your child's life.

An expensive mistake but not a risk worth taking.

Utter codswallop

I wouldn’t use it personally. It’s advised to replace a car seat if any mould is found - particularly on the straps. And it’s advised that bleach is not used in cleaning.
Both can compromise the safety.

If you post DDs age and centiles and your budget I’m sure we can help find a decent seat for you 😊

Seems like an overreaction to me. But if you're worried, is it possible to order a replacement cover, rather than replacing the whole thing?

why are people saying that it is "codswallop" or an over reaction not to use a car seat that will no longer perform to specification due to having been chemically weakened?

Surely the one thing in your child's life that you ONLY use when you KNOW it will perform to specification is the car seat?

I don't understand some people.

Sorry OP, but the seat is definitely unusable. The mould alone makes it unsafe, as the spores penetrate into the straps and could cause it to fail. It’s impossible to safely remove mould spores from car seat straps and fabrics without damaging them further.

Thanks everyone! To the dump it goes and will be buying a new one within the next week or so. Appreciate the help and advice.

I'd ask Britax before you dump it. A lot of the car seat advice online is extremely overcautious and not founded in anything solid.

Britax are really good and know their stuff, so they'll tell you for sure whether to use it or not. They will be able to check with their technical team. They can also advise on the mould and age factor, which depends on your older DD's age of course and if she was the only child to use the seat. Any seat over about 10 years old or in poor condition should be scrapped rather than reused - mould is not great, so it is quite likely they will advise replacement based on that alone. I think the mould is likely to be a more serious problem than an extremely short exposure to bleach.

I think it's more the case that it hasn't been safety tested post-bleach or post-mold and there's a theoretical risk (extrapolated from high concentration/ prolonged exposure etc) and then people take the cautious approach of why risk it.

In reality we bleach countless household plastic items repeatedly without them falling apart and invisible mould is probably everywhere but obviously when the stakes are as high as child safety vs a relatively low cost like a new seat... erring on the side of caution is better. If the alternative was no car seat I'd use a bleached one.

For sure. It's people being risk averse and that's no bad thing when it comes to a safety item. Car seats are subject to such massive stresses in an accident, you want to be 100% sure it's in serviceable condition.

In terms of bleach I think that the engineers/product designers would likely know what exact plastics were used in that seat, and whether bleach would affect them structurally or not. That only works if you know the exact seat and model which is why I think it's worth talking to them. In terms of generic advice, not using bleach on a car seat is much better because that covers all plastics. But for a seat you already have used bleach on, it is worth an ask.

I've seen conflicting things on mould from people who are knowledgeable about plastics - some people say it only affects the covers and you can swap the covers and it's fine, because the plastic and metal parts are non-porous, but I've seen others say that mould will weaken plastic like nothing else and crash tests after mould are horrific. But I can't find a source for either so I have no idea. Again, it could come down to type of plastic. Mould and mildew don't come up in any of the studies or detailed reports about factors which affect car seat use so it's hard to say.

My understanding is that it’s more to do the with the straps and the strap attachments than the seat itself.
I’m hugely risk adverse, especially when it comes to car seats, so if there’s any doubt about the integrity of a safety device for my child, I’d not be willing to take that risk.
For me, there’s also the general concern about the inhalation of mould spores, which won’t be good for anyone, let alone a small child.

I'm a little bit cynical about all the 'these 100 common household items will render a car seat unsafe' reports, because of course it's in the company's interests to advise that your car seat needs replacing...

It's not coming from the companies, it mostly seems to come from rumours that start on social media, sometimes in a reasonable place, sometimes just speculation and spiral out of control. The companies do say something like only to use mild detergent and not to use abrasive products. It's definitely worth following that advice, but people get silly with this and say things like if you've used an all in one pod which includes fabric softener then you've ruined the car seat forever, which is just a load of rubbish, it makes absolutely no sense. Generally, most things you do over the normal course of owning a seat are unlikely to cause it serious harm. Don't go soaking stuff like straps in vinegar and bicarb mix every other week because yes, you want that part to be able to do its job - and maybe mould weakens it, I don't know. It could do, and it probably is a good idea to replace a seat if it's had mould in it at any point.

It's more the bleach claim I'm objecting to - OP said she put it on the shell rather than the straps so that's all I was meaning.

Car seats have an expiry of ~8 years depending on model so you probably need a new one anyway.