It’s been a little over 7 months since we last updated our list of recommended child restraints. In that time some models have been updated, some discontinued and new products have been introduced. A few weeks ago we started the process of revising and updating the entire list and after much thought and discussion we arrived at a consensus. Behold our Updated 2015 List of Recommended Carseats!
We acknowledge that many certified child passenger safety technicians have had it ingrained upon them that they are supposed to act completely neutral toward child restraints. All current seats pass the same FMVSS 213 testing, they are all safe when used correctly, etc., etc. In the course to become certified, most techs were told never to tell a parent that one child seat or brand is better than any other. Instead, technicians are instructed to tell parents that the best seat is the one that fits their child, installs well in their vehicle and is easiest for them to use correctly. Nothing wrong with that.
However, the reality is that once you’ve installed even a dozen different seats, you quickly learn that there are real differences. Some child restraints do tend to install better in general, while some really are easier to use in general. Features like lockoffs for seatbelt installations and premium push-on lower LATCH connectors do make a difference in the vast majority of installations but that doesn’t necessarily mean that every seat that lacks those features is a bust or not worthy of your consideration.
Many years ago, the mighty NHTSA started recommending seats. They didn’t make these recommendations based upon crash testing. No, they were made upon a subjective determination of factors relating to ease-of-use. Ironically, these factors were no more likely to apply to someone’s child and vehicle than the recommendations of an experienced technician! Enter another respected institution, the IIHS. A few years back they began rating booster seats based on fit to a standardized 6 year old dummy. Again, no crash testing whatsoever. Again, no guarantees that the results would apply to your child in your vehicle.
So, who is CarseatBlog to go recommending specific child seats? Well, Heather and Kecia are very experienced Child Passenger Safety Technician-Instructors. Darren has been a certified technician for 14 years now and has like a zillion websites on the topic. Our newest blog writers, Jennie (an experienced CPS Technician), Alicia (nurse and former tech), and Andrea (long-time CPS Tech and Tech Proxy) are moms with younger kids who can actually use many of the seats that our own kids have long outgrown. We also like to think that we’ve earned a respectable reputation in the child passenger safety community of manufacturers, agencies and advocates.
Most importantly, though, we’re just parents who have used a lot of different car seats. Collectively, we have 15 kids ranging in age from 1 to 17. We’ve been through every stage, survived every transition, and personally used an astonishing number of different carseats and boosters. So, about 6 years ago, CarseatBlog broke the unspoken rule and began providing expert recommendations for carseats to parents. Like many other products we use daily, we know which ones we tend to like in general, which ones we’d use without reservation for our own kids and which ones we are comfortable recommending to CarseatBlog readers and visitors. And like parents, we know all carseats aren’t created equal!
With all that said, please take our recommendations with a grain of salt. They are merely opinions, after all. And while we did thoughtfully consider the pros and cons of each seat and combine that with our personal experiences with the product – there’s no crash testing involved. Some seats were omitted because we opted to include a similar model from the same manufacturer. For others, we simply didn’t have enough experience with the product yet to form an opinion. There are a number of products that we don’t mention just because a list of every seat we like would be too inclusive. Carseats and boosters not on this list may still be worthy of your consideration! Conversely, some seats we do list may just not work well for you, your child or your vehicle. We’re not saying these are the best or safest choices in child car seats, we’re just saying they’re models we think you should consider. If nothing else, it’s a good place to start when you are carseat or booster shopping!
I was wondering why is the britax marathon not recommended? Is it less safe than the other 2 britax?
I actually love our Recaro ProSport. For some reason, though, it hasn’t been a great booster for us. When my oldest daughter started to outgrow the harness, I bought her a new highback booster, and just moved her younger sister into the Recaro.
I’m not sure if it’s an issue with the seat, or with my van. For some reason, though, she just had a *really* hard time adjusting and buckling the seat belt when the Recaro was in booster mode. Has that been a common complaint?
Thank you for making this awesome list! But I was wondering what convertible seats you would recommend for inflatable seatbelts. We have a 2014 For Explorer with midrow inflatable seatbelts. I am contemplating the Britax clicktight-G4 boulevard or advocate and the Chicco nextfit. I know I will not be able to use the click tight feature with the inflatable seatbels but love all of the new features of the seat! My son is 2.5 and 23lbs and still needs to be rear facing so any input would be greatly appreciated! Thank you again.
To repeat a popular sentiment: thank you so much for putting these out! I love that there is a group of people who care about their jobs and child safety so much that they are compiling lists like these independently (not to mention engaging in other entrepreneurial ventures). Car seats can definitely be daunting and they’re one of the few items I actually really care about staying current and up-to-date on, so thank you again!!
Awww… thanks, Elizabeth! We’re so thankful for parents like YOU who care about staying up-to-date and make safety a priority! You deserve a pat on the back too! 🙂
You forgot to add a low budget rear-facing only seat. I would recommend the Safety 1st Comfy Carry/Comfy Cozy and the Evenflo Embrace 35.
Hi Christine – thank you for your comment. We didn’t forget, we just prefer to recommend infant seats with a lockoff feature on the base because we don’t think parents should ever struggle to use a locking clip with a seatbelt installation (either because it’s necessary or as a fix for tilting base issues which is still very common). The Comfy Carry is discontinued but the Light n Comfy and the Embrace 35 are both on our list of recommended seats for preemies and multiples. 🙂
Are there any forward-facing-only seats on the market that are harness-only and not combination seats? If not, I would suggest removing the paragraph under the Forward-Facing header and, under the Combination Seats header, say something like, “Combination seats are forward-facing only seats that are first used with a 5-point harness and then can be converted into a belt-positioning booster.”
Hi Cnidaria – thank you for the comment. We did consider that but left the info as-is because we figured that as soon as we said all forward-facing only seats are “combination seats” that someone would bring a product to market that was forward-facing only with harness. Murphy’s Law. Lol.
I’m curious, too, since the B-Safe 35 Elite adds the no re-thread harness which they least as a drawback for the regular B-Safe 35. My guess would be weight and/or price. I’m looking forward to the reviews as we are likely going to be using one of the new B-Safes with our 1st in May.
Hi Kevin – it was just too new to make the list. In general, we only consider seats for our recommended list after we have put them through their paces and figure out all the potential pros and cons. Stay tuned for full reviews of the B-Safe 35 and 35 Elite in the near future. The B-Safe 35 Elite will definitely be considered in our next round of updates.
Is there a reason you don’t recommend the Britax BSafe35 Elite? And what about the Pioneer?
Hi Danielle – the B-Safe 35 Elite is just too new and we can’t recommend something that we don’t have any experience with. We will have a review in he near future and it will certainly be considered in our next round of updates. As for the Pioneer, we do have a full review of it and the seat does have its merits but we prefer the Frontier and Pinnacle models with ClickTight for their ease of use.
I get so excited when you guys release these. Thanks for wading through everything and making it easier for parents to make decisions!
Thank you for the kind words! It’s more work than most people would imagine so we hope it’s helpful and useful info.