- Jennifer Aikman
- January 31, 2012 at 3:29 pm
- 10 comments
New Carseat Regulations: What You Should Know
There’s been a fair bit of buzz lately about new Transport Canada and Health Canada car and booster seat safety regulations. There’s also been a lot of confusion. Here’s a break down of the new regulations and how they may affect all of us who have kids or who drive them around.
img via Transport Canada website
New Rules
As of January 1st, 2012 all car and booster seats bought and sold in Canada must meet the updated safety standards. You can read a full run-down of the new legislation on the Transport Canada website, but the major changes include new testing requirements using a three-point seatbelt to secure car seats in vehicles, changing the definition of an infant from 9 kg to 10 kg, an increase in the maximum allowable weight limit of child seats and adopting most of the U.S. testing parameters. Manufacturers were given from May 12, 2010 to meet the new regulations and while some complied immediately, others waited until the deadline.
What does this mean for parents & caregivers?
- The only way to know if the car seat you bought in 2010 or 2011 is compliant is to contact the manufacturer directly.
- If you own a car seat that hasn’t expired, and it complied with the previous 2011 standards, you can continue to use it.
- If you own a car seat that hasn’t expired, and it doesn’t comply with the new 2012 standards you cannot sell it or give it away
Keep in mind that the car or booster seat you bought last month (in December 2011) may not be compliant with the new regulations. You should contact the manufacturer to find out. If your seat is not compliant and you no longer wish to use it, you should look for a recycling program or facility in your area.
What does this mean for Used buyers and sellers?
These new regulations affect people buying and selling car and booster seats on the Used sites. To simplify things, we’ve removed all existing car and booster seat ads from our sites and have contacted the sellers directly. We’ve asked all sellers to contact the manufacturer to find out if the seat they’re selling is compliant and to repost the ad with the compliance information. We’ve also added an explanation in our car seat category to help inform buyers.
What should I look for when buying a used car or booster seat?
You want to pay careful attention when purchasing a used car seat. Here are some tips to consider:
- Does the car seat have a National Safety Mark?
- Is there an instruction booklet?
- Is the car seat appropriate for the development, weight and height of your child?
- If the car seat has an expiry date, will the time period cover your needs?
- Can the car seat be installed correctly in your vehicle?
- Are the harness and tether straps easy to adjust?
- Are all of the pieces present with the seat?
- Has the seat been the subject of any recalls?
- Ask the seller if the seat’s been in any collisions, however minor, or dropped from a height of three or more feet.
- Has the seller made any alterations, changed the routing of the straps or added any extra pieces?
- Read the helpful information on Transport Canada’s Keep Kids Safe page.
Parents and caregivers have always had to be vigilant when buying or selling a used car or booster seat — the rules are just a little different now. If you have any questions for us, please feel free to leave a comment.
You can find more information about the regulations on the Transport Canada website and by calling Health Canada 1-866-662-0666.
- Posted in:
- Blog, Canada, Everywhere
10 comments!
I would love to know where your source is from? I do know that there are two parts to create the new rules when it comes to buying and selling used seats. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been waiting for something like this to be posted, hopefully usedeverywhere will start requiring much more info when carseats and booster seats are listed for sale on the site.
Hi there,
We contacted both Transport Canada and Health Canada as well as pulled information from the links included in this blog post. However, if there’s more information out there, we’d love to hear about it. As for moderating used car and booster seats, we’ll be removing any ads without compliance information. We have a moderation team who watches for these ads as well we have an active online community that’s pretty good at flagging ads. As more information becomes available, we hope to keep our readers and site users informed.
Please feel free to leave more comments or get in touch with me directly!
Jennifer, Community Manager
jennifer@usedeverywhere.com
I have a question, if my children’s car seats are not in compliance that I bought in 2011 (brand new) and should be discarded then who is going to replace them the manufacturer? cause I sure as hell am not going to go out and pay another $300+ to replace seats that shouldn’t have been on the market in the first place!
If it hasn’t expired, it is still safe to use!
You just can’t give away or sell pre-2012 seats. Just like Toys R Us cannot sell pre-2012 seats. neither can individual sellers.
I have been hearing about people being told at prenatal classes to buy a new seat because they can’t use the one from the previous child. This is not true. Check your seat for expiry date, or for manufacture date. Check your manual; most of them tell you the life for your particular seat. If it is not expired and has not been in an accident, you can keep using it till either your kid outgrows it, or it expires.
Hi Mommyof2,
From what I understand, if you bought a carseat in 2011 and it isn’t compliant with the new regulations – you CAN continue to use it. However, you cannot give it away or sell it.
We bought a Graco My Ride 65 for our son for $300-ish in 2011 with the idea that he could use it for a few years. We discovered that our seat is no longer compliant, but we have decided to continue to use it. We just won’t be passing it on to anyone else.
Jennifer, Community Manager, UsedEverywhere
People are still going to continue to buy and sell used car seats, compliant or not. Not everyone can afford to go out and spend the money on a new car seat. If I am still able to use the one that is not “compliant” anymore.. why the heck can’t my neighbour use it. This is so ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They may continue to do so, but they take a big risk with liability and possibly the law. These new requirements are there for the safety of a young life and we should all be compliant with it and teach others to as well. I personally thank companies like used.com and kijiji (all the personell behind the scene of course) for being a good example to the public for following these new requirements and they are playing a big role to keep children safe.
Purchasing second hand seats is risky too as you are never 100% certain with it’s history, a simple drop unknowing to the seller could make that seat dangerous to use. I am a Certified Child Restraint System Technician and I meet up with a lot of people who have the same concerns as you. You just need to understand the safety aspect of it, Transport Canada, Health Canada and the manufacture of you seat’s websites and 800#’s should provide you will all the info you need, as well check your area for Certified Child Restraint System Technicians as they can help you as well. Local fire stations, car dealer ships, and VON’s can help direct you.
Example: If you were to sell/loan/give a seat to a neighbor that was not compliant to the new requirements (especially being aware of the changes) and that neighbor got in a collision and there child got injured or died, you would be the one liable. Same as if I took my neighbors child with me in my vehicle with an expired or non compliant seat that they gave me to use…and I got in collision, I’d be liable, not the parent.
My friend was told in the hospital when she had her baby not to long ago, the nurses told her carseats manufactured before January 1, 2012 are NOT to be sold, lended out etc.
Good this tells me the info is spreading, but there are other factors, manufacturers where givin 2 years to make the change , so some seats made as early as 2010 are compliant. People need to understand the best thing they can do is take the serial number on the seat, call the 800 number and a rep from the company will tell you everything you need to know about your seat!
Also I would like to point out that every seat certified in Canada under go the exact safety requirements so they are all treated as equal. So a $3-400 seat is just as safe as the $120 seat I just got at Walmart on sale