Used Car Seats – Pretty in Pink

When we started to talk to folks about Everything Borrowed, many of them said, “Great – we are dying to get rid of this old car seat – do you want it?” Michelle’s mom even went out a bought a beautiful car seat from a local garage sale for just $10. This seemed like it was going to be one of the easier items to borrow, right? Not necessarily.

Just like used breast pumps, there are numerous safety issues with used car seats. Many safety organizations do not recommend buying used car seats at garage sales, on line, or from people you don’t know well. Alas, the first time in 60+ years Michelle's mom's bargain shopping didn't pan out...

So, we needed to figure out what the safety issues were and how to make sure the one we borrowed would be safe for our son - and not too too girly - we know, surprising from such progressive parents. It's just been hard enough that everyone thinks he's a girl in utero (and no, that doesn't mean Michelle developed a big ass during pregnancy - it just means she's carrying "a little wide").

We found a great online checklist by CPSafety, a collection of moms/certified child passenger safety technicians and instructors in Central Indiana that appears to go over the major safety concerns around used car seats, including:

- The age of the seat (many car seats are not recommended for use after 5 years)
- The history of seat (many car seats are not recommended for use after a moderate or severe car accident – some even after a minor accident)
- Whether it’s been recalled (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has an up to date searchable database about recalled car seats and car seat parts)
- The quality of the seat (many car seats are not recommended for use if there are cracks, bends, rust, frayed parts or other damages)

Via CPSafety we learned about The National Child Passenger Safety Certification Training Program, which certifies individuals as child passenger safety technicians and instructors. Even though (back to gender stereotyping) Danny is 200% positive he knows what he's doing and "can install a car seat, I-have-my-PhD-you-know," it’s recommended to have a technician take a look at your car seat and make sure it’s installed properly. Although some hospitals, police stations and fire departments can also provide these services, we found a searchable data base of official child safety seat inspection stations.

Finally, we found a host of other online resources that might come in handy very soon, including:

Safe Kids USA - a nationwide network of organizations working to prevent unintentional childhood injury, the leading cause of death and disability for children ages 1 to 14. They have some great resources including a quick guide to car seat safety for 0-12 months, numerous fact sheets and resources on car seats, boosters and seat belts and a searchable database of Child Safety Seat Check-Up Events

Healthy Children – a website of The American Academy of Pediatrics that has a nice overview of basic car seat safety

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s child seat recall list as well as links on how to register your car seat with the manufacturer to stay informed about new recalls and safety issues. Manufacturers are required to notify all registered owners by first class mail if their child restraint is included in a recall.

So, what did we learn? We learned that the car seat that Michelle's mom bought at the garage sale was over 10 years old and probably not safe to use even if we did know the previous owner. We also found out that a few of the seats our friends wanted to lend us were also too old, too beat up, or missing key parts.

We finally settled on a lovely - and pink - 1-year old Graco car seat that has not been recalled and have it stored in a secret location until the birthing day.