Safest Car Seats That You Never Considered
March 31, 2008
No car seat can be sold on the market in the United States without passing certain safety restrictions and crash tests.
Unfortunately, it is impossible for us to determine the safest car seats based on these, because the manufacturers are not required to release this information, and they don’t. However, we can be sure that every car seat on the market does meet or exceed United States governmental regulations.
You can find out which car seats are safest through Consumer Reports, which does simulated car crashes to test the effectiveness of car seats. However, we should also note that scientists have discounted the results for various reasons. Sometimes it’s because of past mistakes, or because of poor parameters and less than good reporting. Still, Consumer Reports is a good place to begin your research.
Over the years, Consumer Reports has reported its top picks. Keep in mind, however, that the safest car seat is only as safe as its user. If it isn’t installed properly and used properly every time the child is in the car, of course it is quite unsafe.
Recently Consumer Reports conducted a test involving rear-facing infant car seats. This was an effort to make up for the previous year’s test, which had errors. All the seats they used (eleven in total) passed crash test standards as defined by the government when secured with a seatbelt and when using the LATCH.
(LATCH stands for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children.) Again, we find the United States’ pass/fail system fails to provide us a “best” and “worst” model.
Consumer Reports addresses this problem by trying to identify the safest car seats. They do it by rating the car seats on Ease of Use and Fit to Vehicle. These two things will have an enormous impact on the safety of car seats.
You won’t be able to install the car seat safely if it doesn’t fit properly in the car. If the car seat is difficult to install, someone is more likely to install it improperly and unsafely.
With these guidelines in mind, Consumer Reports determined that Chicco Key Fit was the best, safest car seat. Britax Companion came in second place.
At the same time, Consumer Reports rated Baby Trend Flex-Loc and Graco SnugRide as the Best Buys. This accounts for the features you get for the price.
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