How do I find and read the Date of Manufacture on my restraint?

The first most accurate point is to look for the Date of Manufacture Sticker, this is the most accurate way of working out the age of your restraint.  This sticker is added onto the restraint on the day all the components are assembled to make your restraint.

On most InfaSecure restraints, this is normally located on the back of the backrest section, but on some seats like boosters may be on the side of the backrest or on the bottom of the seat.  See 'Where is the Date of Manufacture located?' for a more detailed list by model.

Most of the time the Date is written in reverse e.g. Year - Month - Date.

If this cannot be located, a less accurate but ball park date can be found by locating the production date on one of the plastic sections.  For most restraints these look like a set of dials.

One for the Year, normally featuring 5 numbers (or five years in two digit format), one dial for months e.g. 1-12 and one dial for day e.g. 1-31. All will have a an arrow in the centre pointing to the specific number.

For some older models, like our Turn A Tots, they feature a 'Dot Grid' instead. These grids have 12 columns for the months and 4 rows for the year. To read it you need to find the last dot, in the last marked row and this will give you the month and year that the shell was moulded.

While these are not accurate for the day the restraint was manufactured, most shells are normally not made more than a few weeks, or no more than a month before the production of the actual restraint, so will at least give you a rough idea of the age of the seat.

Also, remember that it is not recommended to use a restraint for more than 10 years. If you have a copy of your original receipt, you can ignore the Date of Manufacture and work off your purchase date (see lifespan changes) other wise if a receipt is no longer available never use a restraint for more than 10 years from the Date of Manufacture.