As parents, we are faced with a multitude of choices every day concerning our children. After all, it is our responsibility to keep our children safe and ensure they are raised to be good, caring, productive individuals in society – easier said than done sometimes! From the day they are born, we have to start making decisions.

Driving safety is one of those things all parents need to consider and that starts with choosing the right car seat. If the unthinkable ever happens and you find yourself in an accident, you want to do everything you can to make sure your child is protected.

Which Type Car Seat Should I Buy?

If you’ve ever gone shopping for a new car seat, you know that there are a dozen different options available. The first thing you need to do is narrow it down into which type is appropriate for your child. The style of car seat you need is determined on your child’s age and/or size. The following chart can help guide you toward which type of car seat is suitable for your child.

Is it Ok to Buy a Used Car Seat?

Raising a child can be expensive! For many parents, hand me downs, garage sales and consignment shops are a lifesaver. Believe us, we get it, many of us here at Good Works Auto Repair are parents too and who doesn’t need to save a few bucks every now and then? However, buying a used car seat or getting one from your friends and family is NEVER a good idea.

Did you realize that car seats have expiration dates on them? It might seem strange, but think about it – they are left in your vehicle year round. No one wants to haul them back and forth from the house to the car each time you use them, so they are constantly being exposed to extreme heat and cold. Here in Arizona, where the interior temperature of a car can top 200 degrees in the middle of summer, you can just imagine the damage it can do to a plastic car seat.

If you have several children, it can be tempting to reuse your old car seat. Before you do however, check the manufacture expiration date first to make sure it isn’t expired. The date is usually printed on a sticker found somewhere on the car seat.

You should also be wary of buying a used car seat because it is impossible to know it’s history. It should go without saying, but if a car seat has been involved in a previous accident, it is unsafe to use it ever again – it needs to be replaced. Even if there is no visible damage, there could easily be damage that isn’t seen.

Additional Information on Car Seat Safety

Car seats are the first line of defense for children in an automobile. When installed properly, they can reduce the risk of death by as much as 71 percent. That being said however, that number is drastically reduced when a car seat is not installed properly.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics in San Diego, it is estimated that 93 percent of new parents leaving the hospital have made at least one critical error when installing the car seat or in positioning their infant in it. Let’s repeat that – NINETY THREE PERCENT! That is crazy! Overall, it is estimated that 75 percent of car seats of all ages of children are installed incorrectly.

It is vitally important to make sure your car seat is properly installed. Read the owner’s manual thoroughly and follow all the instructions carefully when you are installing your car seat. Here in Tempe and Mesa there are car seat inspections stations where you can go to make sure your car seat is properly installed. Just do a google search to find one near you.

Our tempe auto repair shop teams up NARPRO and Safe Kids of Maricopa County every year to collect old, used and expired car seats for recycling. Getting these unsafe car seats off the road is a priority for us. You can get more information on this annual event on the NARPRO website.