This thesis discusses the long-term performance degradation of seismic protective systems due to age and inactivity (termed “idle time effects”). Over the lifetime of a structures there is the potential for a significant reduction in ability for the structural control systems to mitigate earthquakes. This can affect the resilience of the structure and lead to uncertainty in engineering judgement when designing seismic protective systems. Further research into these idle time effects could help to create solutions to mitigate age-dependent performance loss. This paper will use magneto-rheological (MR) dampers, which serve as a good analog for other semi-active control devices, to study idle time effects on seismic protection. MR dampers provide controllable damping through the magnetization of small MR particles in a carrier fluid. These particles can settle over time, influencing their performance. Using a model MR fluid, accelerated testing was performed to analyze the consequences of idle time.