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Safety Information

Above And Beyond

GRACO’S CRASH TEST FACILITY

We own and operate our very own crash test facility in Atlanta, Georgia. This allows us the flexibility to run tests throughout car seat product development that meet or exceed the US Safety standard guidelines for car seat safety (FMVSS 213).

A DEDICATED TEAM

Across the country, we have a team of over 90+ certified passenger safety technicians specifically dedicated educating communities on the correct selection, installation, and use of car seats, booster seats, and vehicle seat belts, ensuring that caregivers are up to date on car seat education. Every one of our technicians is trained in child passenger safety by Safe Kids Worldwide—an international organization dedicated to preventing child injury.

Car Seat Safety Standards

GRACO® PROTECTPLUS ENGINEERED™

Graco ProtectPlus Engineered is a combination of the most rigorous crash tests that help to protect your little one in frontal, side, rear & rollover crashes, and additional testing based on the New Car Assessment Program and for extreme car interior temperatures.

Frontal-Impact Tested
Side-Impact Tested*
Rear-Impact Tested
Tested using Graco's RollSafe™ testing standard
Tested using New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) – peak crash force approximately 2X Car Seat Standard
Tested to Extreme Car Interior Temperatures
Meets or exceeds NHTSA’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 213**

*In addition to meeting or exceeding all applicable US safety standards, this car seat has been side-impact tested for occupant retention with the built in 5-point harness system and in the highback belt-positioning modes.

FRONTAL-IMPACT TESTED

Graco® car seats are tested to meet or exceed the child restraint criteria for a frontal crash test under US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213 helping to protect your little on in the event of a frontal collision.

SIDE-IMPACT TESTED*

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, side collisions represent the second most common type of fatal car accident, but there are currently no side impact safety standards in the US. While no side-impact testing is currently required under the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213, Graco® has side-impact tested its car seats for occupant retention with the built-in 5-point harness system and in highback belt-positioning modes.

*Side Impact testing for occupant retention with the built-in 5-point harness system and in highback belt-positioning modes.

GRACO® REAR IMPACT TESTED

While no rear-impact crash testing is currently required under the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213, Graco tests our ProtectPlus Engineered™ car seats for rear-impact collisions based on the European Standard Rear-Impact crash pulse.

GRACO® ROLLSAFE™ TESTING STANDARD

Graco is helping to protect your little one from all sides. Under the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213 there is currently no criteria for roll over accidents. Because of this, Graco tests our ProtectPlus Engineered™ car seats using our own, Graco RollSafe™ testing standard - based on the European rollover testing procedure.

APPROXIMATELY 2X CAR SEAT STANDARD- NEW CAR ASSESMENT PROGRAM (NCAP)

Graco® car seats are rigorously crash tested for structural integrity by duplicating the high crash forces in NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program, which results in a crash test that experiences approximately twice the impact force required by US FMVSS 213. This tests mimics an acceleration speed and crash force approximately twice that of the federal standards, helping keep your child safe in extreme crash scenarios.

EXTREME CAR INTERIOR TEMPERATURES

As you can see in your everyday life, hot and cold temperatures can manipulate materials and make them more brittle. Graco® car seats are tested for structural integrity by applying the US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213 crash pulse to a car seat that has been exposed to extreme hot and cold temperatures. This helps Graco® ensure that your seat will be strong enough to protect your child even in extreme environments.

AIRCRAFT APPROVED

Graco® car seats are certified for use in an aircraft, in rear-facing and forward-facing harness modes, to help keep your child safe while flying to all of your destinations.

TRUESHIELD TECHNOLOGY

Car seats equipped with TrueShield technology offer advanced side impact protection from your child’s head to hips. The protective shields help keep kids safe in the event of an impact from the side of your vehicle. While all Graco® car seats are side impact tested, car seats with TrueShield technology undergo additional side impact testing based on the European R129 testing standard.

SAFETY SURROUND™ TECHNOLOGY

Graco® Safety Surround Advanced Side impact protection provides the best head protection at every stage. With the additional protection in the headrest, Graco Safety Surround car seats grow with your child as they grow. Side impact testing on these car seats go even further above and beyond, side impact tested based on the European R129 side impact testing standard.

Car Seat Expiration

Did you know your car seat expires?
Graco puts an expiration date statement into the bottom or back of each car seat so you know when it is time to replace it. Expiration dates can range anywhere from six to ten years or more depending on the car seat – so it’s important to check your particular car seat. Used or expired car seats can be dangerous, especially if you don’t know the car seat’s history. For more information on how to find the age of your car seat, keep reading.

Q) How many years can I use my car seat?
A) For car seats in general, Six (6) years is the general recommendation, however some car seats, like car seats with steel reinforced frames, have useful lives up to ten (10). years. Each manufacturer determines the specific useful life for its seats. Most Graco car seats have either seven (7) or ten (10) year expiration dates. The reason for these limits involve possible degradation of the plastic shell or other parts, the possible loss/breakage of parts, and the fact that older seats sometimes do not meet current government safety standards (http://www.car-safety.org/) .

Q) How do I find out when my car seat expires?
A) There are multiple ways to find out the useful life of your car seat. Remember, each specific car seat you own will have its own expiration date so be sure to check every car seat you own.

Most car seats will have an expiration date imprinted somewhere on the seat. Graco has an expiration statement located on the bottom or back of every car seat we make, with the statement “DO NOT use this car seat after ‘Month, Year’”. An example of the Graco expiration statement is shown below.
Check the owner's manual. This will provide you the useful life of your seat. You will then need to check your seat’s Date of Manufacturer to determine the Month and Year you should stop use.
When in doubt, the easiest thing to do is to call the manufacturer and ask them. Be sure to have you model number and date of manufacturer on hand, both can be found on the seat bottom or seat back.
Register Your Product. You should do this even if you choose 1-3 above. Each manufacturer places a sticker with the model # and date of manufacture OR serial # on every car seat. This information can then be used to register your car seat. Once your product is registered, your manufacturer can notify you in the event of a recall.

Graco offers three ways to register:

Mail-in card that comes on the front of the car seat
Call Graco’s consumer service center 1-800-345-4109
Register your product online.

Q) Where do I find the expiration date, model # and serial #/manufacture date on my Graco car seat?
A) Look for this sticker on the back or bottom of your seat.

Q) What do I do with an expired car seat?
A) First, if your child is still of height and weight to be in a car seat, you need to replace the seat and discontinue use of the expired car seat immediately. An expired seat should be disposed of in a way that it won’t be re-used by anyone. To help ensure a car seat won’t be used after expiration, it is a good idea to remove the cover, cut or remove the harness straps, write on it with a sharpie, and place it into a black garbage bag before taking it to be recycled or disposed of.You should then purchase a replacement car seat based on your child’s height and weight. Another option for finding a replacement seat is to find a Trade-In event at a local baby retailer. Your local Babies R Us hosts the Great Trade-In Event where you can bring in your expired car seat or trade in other baby gear products and receive coupons to use on your next car seat and/or other baby products.

PROTECTPLUS ENGINEERED™

FRONTAL-IMPACT TESTED

SIDE-IMPACT TESTED

REAR-IMPACT TESTED

ROLLSAFE™ TESTING STANDARD

2X Car Seat Standard

Extreme Interior Temperatures

AIRCRAFT APPROVED

TrueShield Technology

Safety Surround Technology

Graco Supports the American Academy of Pediatrics and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration‘s Car Seat Guidelines

The AAP recommends that all infants and toddlers should ride in a rear-facing car seat as long as possible, until they reach the highest weight or height allowed by their car seat. Most convertible seats have limits that will permit children to ride rear-facing for 2 years or more. Graco offers a line of car seats that help your child safely ride rear-facing longer, until they reach 50 lb.

Once children have outgrown the rear-facing weight or height limit for their car seat, the AAP recommends that they should use a forward-facing car seat with a harness for as long as possible, up to the highest weight or height allowed by their car seat. According to NHTSA, when compared with seat belts, 5-point harness restraints are associated with a 28% reduction in risk of serious injury. Graco offers seats with extended harness weight ratings up to 65 lb.
After children have reached the maximum forward-facing harness weight or height for their car seat, the AAP recommends that they should use a belt-positioning booster seat until the vehicle lap and shoulder seat belt fits properly, typically when they have reached 4 feet 9 inches in height and are between 8 and 12 years of age. Children can graduate to just the vehicle seat belt once they can sit all the way back against the vehicle seat with knees bent at the edge of the seat, the shoulder belt fits across the collarbone and sits flush with the torso, the lap belt sits low on the hips and tops of the thighs, and they can stay seated this way for the entire ride.

CAR SEAT USAGE

AGE, HEIGHT AND WEIGHT

Use this table to quickly find out which of Graco’s car seat categories is right for your child based on their age, height, and weight.

	Age	Height	Weight
Rear-Facing Infant Car Seats	Up to at least 1 Yr	Up to 35"*	4 - 40 lb*
Convertible Car Seat	Up to 4 Yrs	Up to 49"	4-65lb
All-in-One Car Seat	Up to 12 Yrs	Up to 57"	4 - 120 lb***
Forward-Facing Harness Booster	At least 1 Yr to 12 Yrs**	Up to 57"	40 - 120 lb***
Forward-Facing Belt Positioning Booster	4 - 12 Yrs	43 - 57"	40 - 120 lb***

Be sure to check your local/state laws in addition to the AAP & NHTSA regarding car seat usage.

*Chart is based on the max Graco market available height/weight, not recommendations. Some models only go to 30" and 22 or 30lb

**Children are safer riding rear-facing and should ride rear-facing as long as possible, until they reach the maximum rear-facing height or weight rating for their car seat.

***Chart is based on the max Graco market available height/weight, not recommendations. Some models only go to 100lb

INSTALLATION

To make installing your car seat as easy as possible, Graco has created step-by-step instructions and how-to videos to walk you through the installation process. Lightweight and easy to use, Graco infant car seats and in-car bases allow for convenient use of the carrier interchangeably between multiple cars. We also offer intuitive features across all car seat categories like seat belt lock offs, one-second latch, level indicators, and recline adjustability to help make car seat installation easier. LEARN MORE