You Are Shopping for a Children’s Car Seat

The Adept Housekeeping Institute’south engineering and parenting pros have reviewed
dozens of automobile seats

over the by two years, including infant automobile seats. They have too worked with existent parents to examination car seats in a diverseness of vehicle brands and sizes to make sure that these car seats piece of work for anybody’s lifestyle.

Get-go, they ensure that each car seat has passed Federal Safety Standards. Then they perform in-Lab and at-home tests to assess safety, ease of installation, stability, ease of adjustments, ease of getting babies in and out of the carrier, removal of carrier from the base and installation into uniform strollers, and more. To attain this, the Lab sets up each car seat in a variety of vehicles and strollers and uses an eight-pound baby “dummy” to simulate putting a kid in the car seat and evaluate how like shooting fish in a barrel it is to secure them as well equally install the machine seats.

What to Expect For When Shopping for an Infant Machine Seat

Many convertible automobile seats are safe for newborns, but
infant car seats are designed specifically around the needs of an infant, offering additional targeted support for their neck, head, and spinal cord. Typically, infant machine seats are also smaller than other types of child auto seats, offering easier admission to your baby when getting in and out of the automobile and compatibility with sure strollers, so you can simply take out the car seat and fix it to a stroller without removing the baby.

Here are some aspects to consider when selecting an infant car seat:

Acme and weight limits

Every babe car seat will specify height and weight limits. As soon as your kid hits the maximum of either—typically up to 32 inches or 35 pounds—it volition be time to move on to a bigger machine seat.

Carrier weight

Many infant car seats accept the option to install into a base secured to your vehicle, allowing you lot to go on your baby undisturbed inside the carrier as you tote them outside of your vehicle, and hands prune the carrier back into the base on your next drive. Make certain the carrier is light enough that y’all’re comfy lifting it from the base with your baby inside.

Stroller compatibility

Carriers are typically compatible with a range of strollers, extending the use of some strollers that tin’t be used at nativity, making it much easier to go from point A to B with a newborn.

Ease of installation

Our experts institute the nearly hard aspect in tests was securing the motorcar seat to the vehicle. Many seats required a lot of strength, and some seats fit meliorate in certain vehicles. Earlier purchasing, take annotation of the size of the motorcar seat and the size of your vehicle’s dorsum seat. Hire a certified car seat professional if you need assist with installation.

Expiration

All motorcar seats are marked with an expiration appointment, by and large between vi and ten years from the date of industry. If you are hoping to use your seat for multiple children, take note of the expiration. Also, never use a auto seat that has previously been in an blow.

Harness type

You’ll come across two harness options when choosing your perfect motorcar seat: rethread and no-rethread. If you cull a rethread harness, this means that as your baby grows, you’ll need to attain effectually and reroute the straps through the dorsum of the harness each time y’all demand to adapt the size.

With a combined 206 years of automotive publishing experience, Hearst Autos—Machine and Commuter,
Road & Track, and
Autoweek—knows cars ameliorate than just about anyone. The Gear Team is committed to delivering honest evaluations, hands-on tests, and product reviews driven by decades of knowledge and feel. We get our hands on nigh every production, tool, and piece of gear nosotros feature. If we can’t go our hands on the gear, nosotros rely on the combined wisdom of our writers and editors, also as automobile experts we trust.

Nosotros’ll never say annihilation is “the all-time” if we wouldn’t recommend information technology to our friends or buy information technology ourselves, and nosotros won’t claim we’ve tested something if we oasis’t. Learn more nigh our product testing hither.

Why Trust the Good Housekeeping
Institute?

The Good Housekeeping Institute provides good reviews and advice on everything a parent needs, including baby motorcar seats. For more than 15 years, Rachel Rothman, the Chief Technologist & Director of Engineering at the Institute who led the 2022 written report of car seats, has put her training in mechanical engineering and practical mathematics to work by researching, testing, and writing about parenting products. She leads GH Lab efforts in both the car infinite and almost juvenile products, including car seats.