Q: I don't like the cover that came with my car seat. Can you recommend a company that sells more attractive car seat covers?
A: There are a lot of companies, big and small, that make custom car seat covers. However, as a child passenger safety technician, I cannot recommend the use of any car seat covers that did not come with the car seat or that are not provided by the car seat manufacturer. Here are some of the reasons that I do not recommend the use of custom car seat covers.
Photo courtesy of reader Sarah H. Used with permission. A fire right behind the car seat in this vehicle burned or melted many things around the car seat, but the flame-retardant cover that came with the car seat did not catch fire.
A: There are a lot of companies, big and small, that make custom car seat covers. However, as a child passenger safety technician, I cannot recommend the use of any car seat covers that did not come with the car seat or that are not provided by the car seat manufacturer. Here are some of the reasons that I do not recommend the use of custom car seat covers.
- Custom covers are not usually made with flame-retardant materials, whereas manufacturer-provided covers are flame-retardant. This could be important for your baby's safety in some types of crashes.
- Custom covers may not fit your car seat very well and could affect your ability to properly adjust the car seat harness.
- Car seat manufacturers often state in the owner's manual that after-market accessories are not to be used, and some manufacturers will even void your car seat warranty if a custom cover is used.
- Some states have clauses in their car seat laws that require proper use of car seats, according to manufacturer instructions. If your car seat owner's manual forbids the use of after-market accessories, you could actually be violating state law.
- While many companies say that their car seat covers meet federal standards, the truth is that there are no federal standards governing after-market accessories, so their crash testing methods don't hold any real weight.
Photo courtesy of reader Sarah H. Used with permission. A fire right behind the car seat in this vehicle burned or melted many things around the car seat, but the flame-retardant cover that came with the car seat did not catch fire.
Nice way to tell people and its quite good question and answers.
I don’t agree! I have seen pictures of burned out cars and the “treated” car seat cover is just as burnt as the car. Think about the exposure your baby gets sitting in the toxic solution used to treat these manufactured car seat covers. Do you put your child in fire treated clothing in that car seat?
Of course a car seat cover will be burned if the car is completely burned out. Flame retardant means that it must resist catching fire for a certain amount of time, not indefinitely. The purpose is to give you time to get your child out of the car without the car seat cover catching fire.
I showed that pic to my brother who is a fireman and he said that is definitely where the passenger was smoking and threw the cigarette out the window and it came back in.
There are tons and tons of flame retardant materials out there that you can purcahse at Joanns, etc.
I called Graco and they told me that no adding a cover does not negate the warranty, adding clip on toys, mirrors etc is what negates the warranty.
And I agree, the toxic solution they use to add to the material is worse!!
I don’t mean to sound crude but if you are in a crash severe enough that your vehicle catches fire, there’s little chance of anyone surviving anyway.
I’m sure that a fireman probably does see cases of a cigarette re-entering the car and causing a fire. However, I know the details surrounding the photo shown here, and the vehicle was parked when the fire happened. It was not a cigarette fire.
I’ll check with my contacts at Graco and see if they’ve changed their policy on aftermarket products. The product manuals still say not to use the seat with anything not provided by Graco.