CarseatBlog recently released an update to our Recommended Carseats List. As we were working on it, we thought we should take a 
look at Consumer Reports and see how our results compared to their results, and we were curious. After all, many parents know and trust Consumer Reports for their ratings system and reports on vehicles and appliances, so why shouldn’t they trust them for rating carseats too?
Consumer Reports has an arguably disagreeable history in carseat reporting for many years, going back as far as 1999 when they recommended a T-shield carseat and an overhead shield carseat as top-rated models. Back in the day, the internet was just starting out and we didn’t have resources such as Car-Seat.org or CarseatBlog.com to help us along with our purchases. We had print magazines that were often out-of-date by the time they went to press or nothing at all to guide us through all the baby gear purchases we have to make when we have babies. Consumer Reports was at the forefront because of their ratings system and because, frankly, there was nothing else.
But a good consumer always looks for multiple resources when making major purchases, especially when they involve safety for children. In looking through the Consumer Reports online ratings and recommendations, which have also been published in certain monthly issues, I’m left wondering what the circle ratings mean. CR explains each category of their rating system, yet never fully explains what criteria go into the circles or what scale they use for that criteria. For example, what’s the difference between an open circle and a half red circle? Is it 3 points? One point? What does that one point stand for—a label? The wording on a label? How a rear-facing carseat fits without a noodle? What if the reviewer is having a bad day that day? That could very well affect the score. Is the reviewer a child passenger safety technician? How much experience does that tech have? Does that tech have any real-life experience as a parent or in working at checkup events? These are important questions when it comes to evaluating carseats and will change the outcome of the review.
For example, we do know they have at least one child passenger safety technician with expertise on staff: we’ve all met her and she’s very nice. 🙂 We tend to run in the same circles, after all. We were also told their methodology changed after their ill-fated side impact testing and retraction of the corresponding test results in early 2007. In particular, since we have absolutely no idea how they determine their “Crash Protection” score or how these scores might correlate with real world risk of injury, we advise parents not to limit their choices to products with only the highest rating.
As we know at CarseatBlog.com, it takes more than one person to pull together a list of 
recommended carseats. What is our process as we update our Recommended Carseats list? We start with our current list—it’s less work that way! Hey, it’s a smart way to work ;). We also look at our reviews and decide which carseats we’ve reviewed that we like and think should be added or removed from the list. We look for safety features, such as EPS/EPP foam, Safe Cell Technology, REACT, anti-rebound bar/rear-facing tether, deep headwings, and so on, then look for ease-of-use features, such as smooth harness adjusters and easy installation. We also discuss price and value, knowing that value doesn’t always 
equal price. We’re parents, so between the 3 of us, we’ve owned and used *a lot* of carseats and we know what we’d use with our kids and what would drive us crazy to have to use on a daily basis.
Does Consumer Reports look for those things? They say they do, but it’s hard to tell what weight they place on them; after all, they simply show a blank circle, half shaded circle, or filled circle. Let me give you an example of my confusion with the CR ratings. In the infant seat ratings, the most up-to-date of all the ratings, the Chicco KeyFit 22 and KeyFit 30 score differently in the Ease of Use category. The 22 scores a half red circle while the 30 scores a full red circle. Why is that so puzzling? The KeyFits are the same seat! They have identical padding, identical harness adjusters, identical handles, identical canopies, identical base designs—so why the difference in scores? CR provides no explanation, but your average parent who has little knowledge of infant seats trusts them to be accurate.
Another example is in the convertible seats section. CR rated the Evenflo Momentum with 3 half red circles, and an empty circle and an overall score of 69. It rated the Graco My Ride 65 with 2 half red circles, a full red circle, and an empty circle and gave it an overall score of 61. Shouldn’t the My Ride be the higher scoring carseat because it received a full red circle instead of a half red circle? And the My Ride is a less expensive seat, which CR does take into account. Very perplexing indeed.
There are more examples, but honestly, I didn’t want this blog article to turn into a Consumer Reports bashing blog. I wanted to point out some inconsistencies and to remind readers to read their sources, including our blog, with a critical eye. We’re always going to be upfront with why we like or dislike something. We even decided against a grading system for our Recommended Carseats list when we created it years ago because a grading system isn’t as precise as we’d like it to be. Instead, we refer parents to our detailed, full reviews on almost every model included in our recommendations.
So please take a look at our Recommended Carseats List, share it with friends and family, and know that it’s been compiled by child passenger safety technicians with years of experience both in the field working with parents and caregivers and as parents of our own kids, with their own needs and wants. The list is certainly formed from our opinions, but it seems that the Consumer Reports lists are as well. It may be possible to create a list based on certain criteria, but there will always be some element of opinion involved with carseats given how each of us places a different emphasis on value, ease of harness use, and installation. So be sure to check out multiple sources of information before buying a carseat, and be sure to get a good return policy in case it doesn’t work out for you!
Hi Rosie,
I will let Heather clarify, but I believe the main intent was to differentiate and to suggest that parents use multiple resources when making major purchases. Obviously, this is a blog based on our opinions, but we do greatly appreciate that you and others may disagree and we welcome this in comments! I’m sure we have various inconsistencies of our own at CarseatBlog. We all make mistakes, right? Even so, I don’t think it is too unfair to point out inconsistencies at Consumer Reports that some readers may not realize, without going so far as “bashing”.
For example, I have subscribed to Consumer Reports for over 15 years and enjoy the magazine and online content in general. For small purchases, I often will choose among the top handful of rated products, mostly in the interest of time. For larger or important purchases (like a carseat), I always seek out reviews online and other sources of ratings and information. I think that is always good advice, because every publication has editorial biases, Consumer Reports and CarseatBlog included.
That said, you mention a unique service provided by Consumer Reports in regard to crash testing. That is true. It is unique, at least beyond federal standards testing, I’m not aware of anyone else that publishes crash results on a variety of brands and models. The question is not about being unique, though, it’s about whether it is useful to a parent in any way. As Heather suggested, do you know what those circles mean? Just how much safer in a crash is a model with a full red circle for crash protection than one with an empty circle? Do they correlate results to real world risk of injury or fatality, like the NHTSA and IIHS do for some vehicle crash tests? Do you trust them blindly, without any explanation or statistical or technical information on the results, or are you curious as to why they don’t provide such information? Without such data on their testing and how they categorize their results, do you think it would be possible for any advocate to endorse their crash protection ratings?
We don’t even have so much as a respected, peer-reviewed journal paper to use in regard to their testing. Granted, no such papers can be found in regard to CarseatBlog’s reviews and recommendations, either, but again, our reviews and recommendations are strictly our opinions as experienced parents and certified technicians. We know some parents will find that one or more of our recommendations don’t work in their cars or with their children. Likewise, many will find a model we omitted that works great for them. Similarly, before becoming a child passenger safety advocate, I recall being burned a couple times buying a carseat given a top rating by Consumer Reports, then later found a lower rated model worked much better.
Our hope is that by using our recommendations, together with Ease of Use ratings from NHTSA, IIHS booster evaluations, ratings from Consumer Reports and various other resources, parents will not only find a product that works best for them and their child, but also learn about properly restraining their child in motor vehicles as well:-)
I know many people who trust CR ratings implicitly and believe they are infallible due to lack of advertising and such, and that is fine. In general, I find them to be a great resource, too. But when it comes to the life of my child, I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket, so to speak, and I believe that is the intent of Heather’s blog.
While I appreciate the information on this site, I guess I don’t understand the need to bash CR – this does not appear to be particularly helpful. Unless this blog decides to start independently acquiring car seats to evaluate (i.e., not using ones that have been donated by the manufacturer) and doing their own actual crash testing of the seats, then CR continues to perform a unique service that is not provided by anyone else (including this site). And comments such as questioning whether CR testers are CPS techs and parents appear to just be speculative musings without foundation. This is also not helpful.
Anyway, again, while your site has some useful information, I feel like you are doing your readers – people who just want to research what is going to be the best car seat for their family – a disservice by trying to make them doubt the credibility of CR.
Thank you!
I still have people coming to BRU looking for the Momentum. We haven’t carried it for years. It’s also got a super, super deep crotch strap position, making it a fantastically bad fit for newborns (you know the trick of rolling a washcloth to put between the baby and crotch strap to make the baby stay in place? This seat would need a beachtowel. Seriously). Didn’t there used to be a ‘FIT TO CHILD’ Category? I could be thinking of something else, but I think a convertible should fit kids near the top and bottom ranges of the weight limits well to get some sort of red in their circles. I’ve also had parents really frantic to find the KF30 and unhappy with the KF22 from these ratings 😉
On the double plus good side, CR had dramatic pictures in their baby purchasing guide book in 1996 of shield seats failing terribly, so I was sure NOT to buy one for my newborn in 1997 :).
One has to wonder whether they’re testing these seats by putting actual kids in them. 😉
I will say that, back in 2005 when my son was turning 4, Consumer Reports included quite a bit of good CPS info along with the car seat ratings. I don’t recall using the actual seat ratings when I went seat shopping (just bought from the selection at the store, as most parents do) but I do remember that Consumer Reports was the first place that I really read anything about keeping kids harnessed longer, and they also talked about good booster fit. This was about a year before I discovered the car seat board on BabyCenter and then Car-Seat.org, and I was grateful to have the information.
The My Ride is a tough fit when ff, which is why I was so puzzled by the full red circle. For starters, you have to remember to flip the rather flimsy feet down and your vehicle seat should have some natural recline to it in order to have any chance for the seat to fit. I like the My Ride and think it’s an excellent seat for special needs kids especially, but yeah, that rating gave me pause.
I also love that CR says that the MyRide is good for forward facing fit…. but I have seen it fit poorly in many cars and it just seems so darn reclined when forward facing.