Target’s Popular Car Seat Trade-In Event Is Back

Looking to buy a new car seat or get rid of an old one? Target’s popular car seat trade-in event is back yet again, running Sept. 9-22.

You can score 20 percent off a new car seat at Target by bringing in your old one to be recycled. The coupon is valid until Oct. 6, 2018, both in-store and online at Target.com, and it can be used for any car seat, booster seat, car seat base, travel system, stroller or select baby gear.

When you arrive at the store with your used car seat, just take it to the guest services counter and you’ll get your coupon — it’s that easy!

Target will accept all types of car seats for trade-in, including infant car seats, convertible car seats, car seat bases and harness or booster car seats.

They will also accept car seats that are expired or damaged.

Target says that since their trade-in program began in April 2016, 306,000 car seats — totaling 4.6 million pounds — have been recycled so far.

The car seats are recycled by Waste Management to create new products like pallets, plastic buckets and construction materials such as steel beams and carpet padding.

Will you be taking advantage of this deal and saving money on a new car seat?

After buying a new car seat, it’s super important to read the instruction manual and play around with it to make sure you’re using it correctly — your child’s safety depends on it. One mother recently took extra precautions after going back to work following the birth of her baby William — and it’s a good thing she did.

Memphis mom Rebecca Tafaro Boyer asked her husband David to send “hourly updates and recaps” so she could check in on her new baby after she went back to work.

Amazingly, one of the text exchanges ended up saving William’s life. When David sent her a snap of their son in his car seat, the new mom replied to let him know that it looked like William’s position in the seat needed some adjustment. In a now-viral and lengthy Facebook post, Rebecca recounted how what probably seemed like a “nagging” text ended up saving her son’s life.

“My nagging wife reply was to correct William’s position in the car seat,” she explained in her post. “The straps were too loose and the chest clip was way too low. And because I know my husband, I’m sure that he laughed at me and rolled his eyes before tightening the car seat and fixing the chest clip.”

About 15 minutes later, Rebecca received a phone call from her husband, who told her that he and William had been in a car accident. William was safe, likely due to his mom’s insistence that his positioning in his car seat was adjusted.

“My precious little bundle of joy was so well restrained in his car seat, THAT HE DIDN’T EVEN WAKE UP,” Boyer wrote. “Even with the impact of the two cars, William only received a minor jolt – so insignificant that he was able to continue on with his nap, and then spend the next two hours flirting with nurses in the Le Bonheur ED.”

Rebecca urged all parents to double check that they were following all safety guidelines surrounding car seats at all times, even if it seemed overly cautious. She then directed caregivers to safekids.org to get up-to-date car seat safety and proper installation information. She noted that such information can also be obtained at a local children’s hospital or police department.

Her post has now been shared more than 35,000 times. Rebecca told The Washington Post that she decided to share her story publicly because, “I was so relieved that he had fixed the car seat and that it had worked properly. It’s rare that you hear a story like this and it’s good news.”