Like any product that’s manufactured, car seats are sometimes subject to recalls. In most cases, recalls are simple — typically it’s a new label or an updated manual — in these cases, the seat is safe to use until the fix is available. In rare cases, the recall is stop, do not pass go, do not use your car seat again until fixed.
The only way a manufacturer can reach out to you is if your child’s car seat is registered with that manufacturer.
Car seat registration card
Registering your car seat is relatively painless. New car seats always come with a registration card attached to the seat or in the box somewhere you can fill out and send in. In this day and age though, registration is generally easiest on the internet. Safercar.gov has a link that will connect you with your car seat manufacturer’s website. This makes things very simple and you don’t risk losing the card before you have a chance to fill it out and mail it.
There are other ways to register a car seat. You can call the manufacturer as well. Most Child Passenger Safety Technicians (CPSTs) have generic forms that can be filled out and sent in to register seats as well. This is handy if you have moved or just aren’t sure if you sent that form in. CPSTs like to help! We can get it filled out and sent in for you, easy peasy.
Information Required
Most car seats have the manufacturer’s name on the cover
If the registration card doesn’t have a label with all of the seat’s information on it already (most of them do!), here’s what to fill out:
- Manufacturer name. This is often printed in big letters somewhere on the seat cover.
- Model name
- Date of manufacture
- Model number
Date of manufacture label
Sometimes, the parent company has a different name from the name on the car seat. For example, Dorel is the parent company for Cosco, Safety 1st and Maxi-Cosi. This could mean that the manufacturer name listed on the sticker is different than the name on the front of the car seat.
The information required to register is listed on the Date of Manufacture label, which is often found on the side or the bottom of the car seat. Usually, a copy of this sticker is already on the registration card that’s included with the car seat.
You can also sign up to receive emails for all car seat recalls that are released on the Safercar.gov website. This will alert you to all recalls that are processed, not just the ones you have registered. You can of course always regularly check Car Seats for the Littles for information on recalls as well by following our website, Facebook, and Twitter.
We hope this information will help you get your car seats and booster seats registered so you are aware of recalls and the manufacturer can send you any fixes that are needed ASAP. As we said in CPS week 2014, “Don’t Delay- Register Your Car Seat Today!”
