Deal has ended, view more Target deals by clicking here.Â
Contents
The Offer
- Target is offering 20% off a new car seat, car seat base, travel system, stroller or select baby home gear when you trade in an old car seat from April 5, 2021 through Saturday, April 17
Our Verdict
In previous years Walmart has had something similar but for a $30 gift card, but we didn’t see that last year. Until a few years ago I had no idea that car seats have an expiry date due to the plastic that is used and that’s why buying a used seat generally isn’t a good idea.
Never understood the whole expiration thing. As if the plastic instantly rots on that date? I bet it is a legal thing that if a child is involved in a crash and is injured the parents can’t sue the car seat manufacturer because it was not being used in accordance with the instructions/past expiration date.
But isn’t an expired seat(not involved in an accident of course) better than nothing for someone who maybe can’t afford a new seat/system? Helmets don’t have an expiration date…
Seriously sounds like some planned obsolescence scam. A car seat should last until a child is too old to use it- and then some
Recently read this article from Marketplace about how there just isn’t any real data to support the expiration dates on car seats https://www.marketplace.org/2019/11/14/is-there-any-data-that-says-secondhand-car-seats-arent-safe/
There’s also Doyle & Levitt’s 2006 study, which said that the benefit of car seats (for 2-6 yr olds) is that people actually put their kids in them properly and keep them there, rather than wiggle around the back seat. When kid-sized dummies are properly buckled with normal seat belts, the crash test with no car seat passes the safety standards for car seats. Viewed through that lens, unless the car seat’s so fatigued that it’s actually less safe than no car seat, it’s probably fine.
Sweden’s about the only place where regulators answer this question, and they found no problems with 20-30 year old car seats. https://www.marketplace.org/2019/11/14/is-there-any-data-that-says-secondhand-car-seats-arent-safe/
It’s a total scam made up by Big Carseat
Helmets do indeed have expiration dates (actually manufacture dates and company recommended “length of use” dates). The rationale for expirations of these kinds of things are 1) deterioration of materials through heat, sun, etc, 2) reduced efficacy due to low level damage over time (dropped, minor bumps, etc), and to some degree, I’m sure… 3) a desire to sell you a new one (that likely has some bit of design and material advancement). This is most obvious in tires, where you can usually see the deterioration as cracks and “dry rot.”
/2 cents
Agreed. My kids outgrew their travel system and we had to upgrade to larger seats. I’d love to be able to donate the thing, it was a few hundred, but it’s just sitting in the garage at the moment until I figure out something to do with it.
I’ll check the “other baby” stuff at Target. I’m hoping Walmart brings back $30 gift cards though, lol
the reason for never using a used car seat is that you have no way of knowing if it has been involved in a crash, which could compromise its safety.
trade-in programs help prevent parents, who are upgrading sizes, from giving their old car seats away to other families.
I’ve used the same car seats for both my kids and have one from a friend I trust to tell me if it had been in an accident. Getting a used seat from a trusted source is certainly an option.
I consider myself a fairly informed person and until i read the Marketplace article above,
I had no idea there were no federal standards/requirements for car-seat expiration.
What are the chances of someone getting into a car crash in the first place, then lying about it to make a few bucks, and the purchaser also getting into an accident with it while someone is sitting in it?
I regret not dumpster diving when they offered a straight up gift card.
Don’t even need to dumpster dive, just get on FB marketplace! People are always giving away expired seats
You can find other hidden treasures! Especially if you live in a college town during move out days. Lots of yucky stuff too though.