Car seats - older vs new

[angelfish979]

Hi everyone,

Need some advice on car seats - a friend has lent me a Safe N Sound one which was manufactured in 1998 (no accidents or anything). Have done some research and find that while the older one still "meets" safety standards, the new ones now have even more protection, e.g. particularly in a side-impact accident. Can't decide whether to spend the $400 and have the peace of mind with the new one, or if I'm just being paranoid and the older one will be fine!

What're your thoughts/experiences??

Thanks!

[ThomasMum]

Can't decide whether to spend the $400 and have the peace of mind with the new one, or if I'm just being paranoid and the older one will be fine!

What're your thoughts/experiences??

Thanks!

Hi there, there was a segment on 'Mornings With Kerri Anne' on Nine Network recently-about second hand baby stuff, I have to say I'm glad eventhough we spent money on Thomas's stuff like carseat, cot, changing table, prams etc but we know being brand new means, its safe and meets the current standards.

Here's an extract from the Infant & Nursery Products Association of Australia Inc. Caring for Australia's Babies. The link is: http://www.inpaa.asn.au/new_or_old.htm

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Products worth buying new every time

CAR SEATS, BOOSTER SEATS, CHILD RESTRAINTS
Just as car designs have improved their safety dramatically over the years, so too have the designs of these products. All new car restraints must, by law, meet the current Australian Safety Standard, generally agreed by experts to be the best in the world.

Using a second-hand product might mean you’re unaware of its history, and this can be dangerous as, if it’s been in an accident, it might no longer be safe. It only takes a small collision to damage or stress a harness or seat shell, and the damage is usually not obvious. With a new product, you know the plastics and materials have not degraded with time and exposure to sunlight.

Buying a new restraint means you can be totally sure it’s safe. In fact, it’s illegal for dealers to sell or hire some older-style car seats as they are so dangerous.

It’s also important to ensure your seat is fitted correctly. New car restraints have full fitting instructions that you must follow to the letter, and these are usually missing from second-hand products.

PRAMS AND STROLLERS
There are many features on new prams and strollers designed for your child’s safety.

There should be two separate locking devices to prevent it from collapsing accidentally. Locks on second-hand products might not work properly.

New prams are designed with high-quality mechanisms to ensure your child’s fingers, arm, legs, head and body won’t be trapped. Plus the brakes on a new product must conform to all relevant safety standards and are designed not to fail.

The latest-design head barriers and five-point harnesses ensure your child cannot fall out during use, which some of the older harness styles don’t do.

It’s also important that the wheel bearings are not worn, as this can cause wheel wobble. While bearings can be replaced, the cost can make the second-hand purchase not such a bargain after all.

TODDLER SEATS
If you’re adding a toddler seat to your stroller, make sure it is the correct one. A mismatched seat can cause your stroller to tip over easily.

COTS
Your baby will spend a lot of unsupervised time in their cot. For this reason, it’s vital that the cot is safe for them.

Design standards for cots have continued to improve, with the latest revision being as late as 2003. The 2003 standard is not yet mandatory but all INPAA member manufacturers of cots already meet this standard.

Most old cots designs are considered unsafe and do not meet safety standards.

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Hope this helps!

Love Peace

ML

[Chickadee]

If I'd been offered a 2nd hand car seat and was confident of it's history (ie accident free) I'd have been very tempted to go for it. The latest designs do have more safety features, and really you have to satisfy your own peace of mind.

$400 seems a bit steep for a new car seat though. I think ours was only around $200 (maybe $300?) new. And it's fully reversible so has been from birth till now (nearly 2 years) which I think is good value.

[Rell]

I would go with the others on this one, for pease of mind its better to get a new one. K Mart and Target regularly have nursary sales where you can get big discounts.

[mmp]

I'm also looking at car seats, and the issue I'm having is whether to hire a baby capusle for the first few months and then buy a car seat or are the convertibles good enough? Some advice I've had is that the capsule is better when bub's so young due to the extra protection and that you don't have to disturb them when it's time to get out of the car. Thoughts please?

[sopolicha]

mmp,

In three weeks I am having number 3 and I have hired a capsule for 6 months for this bub. I figured it would be easier to carry in and out of the car without waking bub and easier to carry around with my other two.

The capsule does look more substantial than the reversible car seats, which I used with the other two, but eveything has to conform to the Australian Standards anyway, so I can't really comment on that one.

I think they also look more comfortable in the capsule because they are a bit more reclined and I think also that they look a lot cosier.

I am going to sound like my mum bit if I knew then what I know now, I would have used capsules from the start!

[Merlion]

I used a baby capsule which I hired for 8 weeks of Jessica life and absolutely loved it as it was easy to get her in and out (after bit of practice) of the car especially when she was sleeping

[Chickadee]

The only bad comments I've heard about the capsules is that if you have a heavier baby, plus a c-section, then lifting the combined weight of the capsule and baby in and out of the car could be difficult initially. But if you can count on having dh or someone else around to help out for the first few weeks then it's not an issue.

[ThomasMum]

Excellent and very wise advice, MarthaM!

For us it was my DH’s choice that we didn’t get capsule because hubby loves taking 'lil Thomas in and out of the car, it brought him closer he said. And Thomas didn’t mind at all, he never gets bothered from it-he always asleep!