Is third-hand car seat ok to use?

[nomorechoc]

we had it second hand (from someone we knew) and now is going to be passed down to my youngest DC. We have zero money at the moment, but even so dont want to skimp on safety of course.
some of the polysterene is a bit broken - dont know whether this matters or not?
do you have really old car seats?

WRIGGLE-KIGGLE.. the maunufacturer staing that it didnt compromise safety tey were saying that a crack in the polystyrene didnt HAVE have to be replaced, you would still need it in place cracked or not.

SUWOO.. I've a wardrobe full of clothes that my 3.4 year old is yet to grow into. Were still in 18-24 month stuff

Raving in the Northwest ?? I've only done so a few times at Goodgrief, Sunrise, MEN,. I normally do my stuff in Birmingham/London. I am a Sundiss girl at heart

He used to go as far south as Stoke, but not really further. I'm talking 88-99 ish, he grew up then

You would hate me then as we have 10 seats for 3 kids.

the thing with a second hand seat is that you dont know whether its been dropped/banged/in an accident,
you may think getting a better make second hand seat is safer than getting a cheaper make new seat,but if its been in an accident then it could actually do more harm than good in an accident,

FBG.. I would rather see that than kids in old out of date seats.

sazm, I'd also heard the accident thing... that it compromises the chair's structure.

I agree about the plastics in landfill, it does seem like such a waste. But having said that, safety is a higher priority for me.

Then again if someone was going to not use a car seat at all, I'd rather they used a second hand or old one. Someone told me once about a relative of theirs who worked for the traffic police in a country where car seats are not mandated by law. She saw a lot of accidents and generally, the kids who were in a car seat (of any kind/state) had minor injuries at worst, the kids who were not were more often than not killed

I am just glad that in this country we are able to argue about which type of car seat to use and not whether to use one at all.

I have used 2nd hand car seats but they were both given to me by people who I knew personally and hadn't had any car accidents in the time I knew they had their children in those seats.
I then passed them on in turn to people that I knew personally and who knew me.
They were the smaller size car seat which my 'bruisers' were really not in very long.

I would not under any circumstances get a car seat 2nd hand from ebay, car boot etc or someone I didn't know personally, as the only time you would find out that its not safe (ie been stressed in an accident) is when its too late and you've had an accident where it didn't work properly.

I have never heard this thing of them having a 'use by date', just asked dp what he thought of that. He said that you can leave a plastic hosepipe outside exposed to uv for years before the plastic will be affected. In a car a seat will not be exposed all the time to uv.

If this was the case then the plastic interior and seats of my 13 year old car would have crumbled or been unsafe years ago.

But we are cynical so I think this is a manufacturers ruse recommendation aimed at parents replacing car seats more often.

Flibberty, I think the use by date is quite likely to be rubbish.

We also did the hand-me-down from reliable source thing, why not, as long as you know the seats are ok. (I'm a hand-me-down kind of gal).

I think use by dates are used in America. Never seen one here, anyway. I always thought it was more to do with the fact they are developing safer car seats all the time.

Thanks for giving me a kick to buy new ones this week

Car seats dont tend to have a specific 'use by' date in this country but do have a manufactured date on them. Whether manufacturers are right in saying they need to be replaced after five years is anyone guess

Car seats sat in cars with the elements are going to be affected by them

I don't agree that seat manufacturers just want to sell more seats. I phoned Britax to ask if the seat for DS1 was still okay to use for DD and they asked how old it was and said it was fine as it hadn't been recalled. As it was, we did buy another one as a better one had come on the market.

carseats DO have a use by date,
the reason they have a manufacturing date is so you know how old they are,
the maxi cosi website states that a carseat should not be used after 5/6 yrs as the polystyrene/plastic wears/weathers and will not be effective in an accident,

Hi i have a feeling you may have answered the same question for someone elsebut i can't see all the threads.

Right, I lent on dd carseat yesterday and then polystyrene snapped and has come away just at the edge. What do i do? Is it safe? ( i'm thinking not but i just don't know ) Is it possible to just get the polystyrene replaced and if so how do i go about doing that? ( got it from Mothercare more than a year ago - god know where receipts etc are)

Ok now I am worried.

ds3 is currently using the stage 1 car seats that ds1 and 2 used. they are in good condition and have never been in an accident. They are about 5 years old though so should I change them?

Rgrice - this happened to my ds's recaro, i just phoned them and they sent me a replacement piece of polystyrene to fix on,
call the manufacturer and they should be able to sort you out,

muppety - i would replace it,there will be one much safer on the market now than 5 yrs ago

Polystyrene broken = car seat not safe.

Didn't realise how old this thread was and I can see I have posted twice already.

We have a seat which is about 18 months old if any good for you.

Very expensive and decent seat. Much better than an old one with broken bits.