Read about the 2015 Consumer Reports convertible ratings here!
The ratings on convertible carseats are in and . . . Consumer Reports agrees with the Blog! No, it’s really not *that* cold yet, but it is nice to have the publication that many parents trust agree with you on what the best convertible seat may be (see our Recommended Carseats page). Before I get to the CR top rated picks, let’s talk about what the “best” convertible carseat is. We say this all the time as techs, but it really does ring true, hence why it’s repeated so often. The best carseat is the one that fits your vehicle (the best), your child (the best), and your wallet. A carseat that, when installed, seems like it’s made for your vehicle AND your child, is the one that is the best carseat for you. It may not be what your neighbor or best friend uses and that’s important. A loosely installed carseat or one where you can’t easily adjust the harness to be snug on your child is not safe. Ultimately what the carseat does is contain your child in a crash. By being coupled to the vehicle, it allows the vehicle to crush and lengthens the ride down time, reducing your child’s chance for injury. Sure, we’d like to imagine that all that EPS foam/EPP foam/air pads really do reduce injury–it certainly does in bike helmets–but we don’t know for sure because the government hasn’t specified a way to measure its effectiveness in carseats. So this all points back to having a correctly fitting carseat.
Consumer Reports evaluates carseats on several points, including fit to vehicle, price, features, and safety. In the past, CR has done some, um, unique testing on carseats that put into question their choices for Best Buys. CR even rated an overhead shield carseat with a rear harness adjuster (yeah, those aren’t made anymore) highly many moons ago when 5-point harness carseats were plentiful. The Blog has learned that apparently CR places a 20% emphasis on their crash protection score into their overall rating. We will try to confirm that and also that they supposedly weight Head Injury Criterion (HIC) higher in their crash protection score than head excursion. HIC is important in the scheme of things since it measures acceleration of the head, but we have been told that head injuries from excursion (how far the head comes out of the carseat) are the leading cause of injury to children . Head excursion is considered by some experts as a somewhat more important factor in crash test results.
As techs, we’ve scratched our heads at their choices more than once. But this year, it looks like they made a concerted effort to truly evaluate carseats. Again, I take issue with a few of their ratings based strictly on looking at their little colored dots, but I’m pleased for the most part that we won’t have to do damage control this year. So, what are their top picks? I know you’ve been waiting! And I’m such a tease, lol. OK, wait no more, I’ll tell you. They broke down the convertible carseats into 2 categories: 40 lbs. harnessed seats and over 40 lbs. harnessed seats (what we refer to as “higher weight harness” seats).
In the 40 lbs. category, the Dorel Cosco Scenera 40RF ($55) was their top pick! And not only is it a great seat for the smaller sized seats, it’s a budget seat! It’s more expensive twin, the Safety 1st onSide Air ($100), is second. Or should I say tied given that they have identical colored dots? The regular ol’ Cosco Scenera ($60) that only rear-faces to 35 lbs. comes in a close third. And wow, where are they getting those retail prices? The only place I’ve seen these budget seats that expensive is at BRU. Since you’re dying to know, the Combi Coccoro was last in their ratings scale, with a solid black circle for “rear facing fit-to-vehicle.” That makes me sad :(.
In the over 40 lbs. category, Britax steals the show. The Boulevard 70 CS, Boulevard 70, Advocate 70 CS, and Evenflo Momentum 65 Deluxe all rate the same. The Marathon 70 and Roundabout 55 round out the top 6 higher weight harness carseats. Their lowest rated HWH seat? The Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL (I guess they weren’t able to test a Diono Radian). I am curious as to why they included the entire Britax convertible line and not the Sunshine Kids/Diono line; only the XTSL was listed. I also didn’t see the Evenflo Symphony 65 listed.
So, it’s an interesting list to see and something we’ve been waiting for since it’s been several years since the last convertible carseat review. It’s good to see what we consider improvement in their ratings, though it’s still perplexing that we as readers don’t know exactly what their ratings scale really is. Like I mentioned earlier, I’m glad their ratings are more in line with what we techs see and recommend every day. You can find their newest ratings on convertible seats currently only at their website, www.consumerreports.org. Unfortunately, you have to be a paid subscriber to see the report.
Any comment about the CRs list right now? I was looking at the clek foonf or fllo and was encouraged by the reviews on the blog but CR lists it as one of the worst!?
Hi Joyce. We do have an updated blog on the current CR list here: https://carseatblog.com/33724/convertible-carseat-ratings-june-2015-consumer-reports-update/. I think the CR ratings and comments are in line with what I said in the Foonf and Fllo reviews, but CR used black blobs and half-blobs to represent their opinions instead of bullet points. The Foonf, especially, does sit up higher RF which does make it harder to install than most seats in vehicles that are higher up. However, Clek has released the new Infant Thingy so both carseats can be used from 5 lbs. instead of 14 lbs., which greatly increases their range of use.
CR does weigh ease-of-use and fit-to-vehicle higher in their scores than crash protection because they feel that if a parent is able to install and use a carseat properly, it will protect a child better in a crash (see https://carseatblog.com/25058/consumer-reports-the-surprise-meeting/).
I bought the safety 1st elite then found out it’s on the IIHS’ list of do not buy seats. It said as a booster it didn’t position the seat belt in the correct position. FYI 🙂
The latest Consumer Reports infant seat ratings and information on their new testing system can be found here: https://carseatblog.com/26915/the-safest-infant-carseats-new-crash-protection-ratings-and-methods-from-consumer-reports/
What issue of CR was this in? I’ve browsed the published paper copies in my library and cannot find it.
Hi jdesmarais, These new ratings are not in the printed magazine. For the last year or two, CR has apparently just been updating their carseat ratings online without publishing an article when new results are released. If you have a subscription, you can find the ratings here: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/baby-toddler/car-seats/convertible-car-seat-ratings/ratings-overview.htm
I happened across your site looking for information on ratings of convertible child seats which we were hoping to buy for our one year old. As someone who worked as a crash safety engineer for 6 years, I am sad to see misinformation on crash safety being spread around. There sure are many issues with crash testing, especially for children, because there is so little information (other than anthropomoetry) on which to build either child dummies or computer models. There are also for sure issues with the HIC as the measure of head injury for adults, let alone kids. But to say that head excursion is the best measure of car crash results is something this safety expert does not agree with. Basic physics should tell you that how far your head travels is not as important as the impulse which is imparted (what if it travels really slow due to a good restraint?) The HIC measures the area under the linear acceleration curve which is the impulse. We could argue whether linear acceleration is the better measure than angular acceleration, but in either case, distance is not as valuable a piece of information.
Hello “a”,
Well, this is kind of the point. Lots of people can agree and disagree on what measures are most important. Noted scientists and researchers in almost every field often disagree, and this field is likely to be no exception. The real problem is when you take an opinion, one unsupported by peer-reviewed studies, and put that opinion into a small colored circle called “crash protection” but give no explanation of what it means to the millions of consumers that rely upon it. Even the discussion of HIC vs. head excursion is problematic without references. On a crash test sled for standard 213, of course basic physics tells you that head excusrion is not important, because there is nothing there in front of the dummy for the head to strike. You can integrate the area under a deceleration curve as often as you wish, but unless there is a stronger correlation with real world injury, the comparison is still theoretical. Meanwhile, in an actual vehicle interior, basic physics does tell us that how far the head travels is very important, because the farther it travels, the more likely it will impact with a hard surface of the interior. That results in another type of impulse imparted to the head, as it suddenly jolts to a stop when it hits a pillar or grab handle. If indeed we are propagating misinformation as you suggest, we would be very interested to have a reference to some research comparing head-excursion related injuries to HIC-related injuries in the real world. Lacking that, we will try to follow up on some more information in the future. After all, we aren’t the ones producing crash protection scores for child restraints. What we want to do is make sure the consumer understands what these ratings mean. We lack the information to say for certain, so for now there is just conjecture based on what we’ve learned from other crash test experts and manufacturers. We also hope to discuss this with Consumer Reports in the near future as well, because their website gives even less information on what those ratings mean (actually it gives basically no information at all)! As a crash safety expert, wouldn’t you want to know the statistical parameters and weightings behind those mysterious colored circles to know if they are really relevant to the safety of a child?
@Davis – have you posted on our forums yet? http://www.car-seat.org If not, I suggest asking for feedback there and giving us a few more details like what you drive, your child’s stats (age/wt/ht) and what you love and hate about your current carseat. We’ll try to help you sort through the confusion!
I was looking at the Recaro ProRIDE Convertible Car Seat. Seems to have good reviews from the few websites i’ve looked at. The 3 i’m debating are the Britax Advocate 70 CS, The Recaro ProRIDE Convertible Car Seat, and the Safety 1st Complete Air 65. Decisions decisions 😐
What month is this information provided from consumer reports? I want to sign up! Definitely worth it! I was looking into the Recaro brand but didnt see that it made your list 🙁 Thanks again for the information though… i was looking all over for something for reviews, didn’t find to many! 🙂
@Davis – the CR info is available online if you want to subscribe. I’m not sure what issue of the magazine these ratings were published in. If you’re looking for something more thorough than just little circle ratings – check out the many, in-depth reviews we have here on casrseatblog! Which Recaro seat were you interested in?
@Coleen, that was exactly the perception I had when meeting the main CR tech. She was friendly, warm, and really wanted to be seen as a regular ol’ tech. I think we (as a whole) tend to vilify people when they make a very public mistake or do things against the grain, but we don’t know what goes on behind the scenes a lot of the time and what pushes and pulls people to do what they do.
Not sure how many of you saw it, but after the most recent CPST conference here in CT I did post on c-s.o about meeting CR’s techs who are in charge of the car seat testing program now. Monstah and I talked with them at length, and we were certain then that these techs were just like us, dedicated and truly committed to keeping children safer. And they genuinely wanted to have the support of us (other techs). They wanted to change our perception of CR and their testing. And they had moved the testing to a whole new facility and with a new staff and procedure. I’m thrilled to see that their hard work is recognized here in Heather’s blog!
See, Britt, this is what I was meaning by saying that the best carseat for you is the one which fits your car/child and you! Some of my favorite seats haven’t been “top rated” yet they work well for me. I’m not sure it’s possible to have a true ratings system for carseats since they’re not like TVs where you can objectively analyze them.
I am really sad that my all-time favourite seat, the Sunshine Kids Radian XTSL, rated so poorly! What is that about?!
I looked at the convertible list just because I told my friend to pick up a My Ride for herself (grandson) this week and I know she will look at CR. It was a best bet.
All the higher weight convertibles listed were rated the same for crash protection or what ever they called it. Very Good. Only the EFTA was excellent. So, I’m happy she should be satisfied:)
As always, I suggest that parents use Consumer Reports as one of their sources of information, but NOT THE ONLY ONE. We still know very little about their methods, especially their “Crash Protection Score”. Check out a variety of sources, reviews and recommnedations first to narrow down your search. Then, as Heather said, make sure it fits well in your vehicle, fits your child and is easy for you to use correctly every trip! A properly installed and used carseat in an appropriate rear seating position will provide a great deal of safety for your child, regardless of where it appears in Consumer Reports, whether or not is is one of CarseatBlog’s recommended carseats or is rated well by any other publication. I also would like to add that I’ve been encouraged over the last few years that Consumer Reports seems more active in the CPS community, talking to manufacturers and advocates, attending conferences and shows, things that they didn’t do in the past. Hopefully, this means that their ratings will align better with what parents and advocates see every day and also that their crash testing will be more open and align with research so that it encourages product improvement.
I do wish we could repost the ratings, but I think we’d get in trouble, lol. The My Ride, CA, and TF were all tested but ranked in the middle. YK, I bet they didn’t do 3-in-1s at all because the Alpha Omegas aren’t listed either. Odd.
They do have a tech on staff and she’s been there for years now. We’ve met her a couple of times at conferences :). But I don’t know if she’s the only tech on staff.
I’m also wondering what they thought of the MR and CA along with the TF/TFP. Perhaps they didn’t test the Evenflo Symphony because they consider it an All In One because it is also a booster. I could be wrong though since I don’t follow Consumer Reports.
Was the true fit tested? I can’t wait to get a hold of my dad’s copy of the results!
And while I’m sad for the CCO, I can see how it would get bad ratings for fit to vehicle rearfacing. Mine goes in wonderfully with latch, but seatbelt is quite a bit tougher.
Interesting. Were the MyRide and Complete Air tested? What vehcile(s) did they use? And yes, poor Coccoro 🙁 I do like that some budget seats did well, but this won’t do much to change the attitude that Britax is best.
I remember some people reporting they Consumer Reports has CPSTs on staff now, and that they were really making an effort to…do something. Come up with better recommendations maybe?