This does not use a JQuery solution, but consider this:
function cvrtDate(d) {
var t = d.split(/\D+/) // splits on any character(s) between digits
var dt = new Date();
dt.setFullYear(t[2],(t[0]-1),t[1]);
return dt;
}
Advantage is that the argument passed to the cvrtDate function can be any of the following formats
'1/1/2010'
'1-1-2010'
'1.1.2010'
or even
'1/1-2010' or any other non-digit separator.