When we announced that a baby is coming it was inevitable that someone would have old equipment lying around that they wouldn't mind donating. Actually so far only one person has offered their old car seat. I'm somewhat uneasy about used car seats. I have no problem using old equipment other than car seats.
Although I'm not an expert in car safety or other safety, I do believe that there are some safety issues in using old car seats. As experts have mentioned before, car seats do have expiry dates and they shouldn't be used after they've been involved in a car accident. This makes sense to me - it's the same with bicycle helmets. Expired car seats may have materials that have been weakened by heat, sunlight, sweat, etc., such as plastics and foams. Similarly, seats that have been involved in car accidents may have internal damage causing structural weaknesses.
I do think that having the extra car seat around will be useful though, at least as practice in getting the seat secured in a car.
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