If you need an everyday booster for regular car rides, the Chicco KidFit Zip Air Plus 2-in-1 is our favorite option. This booster has a below-average price, one of the best crash test results, and impressive features for comfort. graco car seat We’ve been testing safety seats since 2014, including commissioning crash testing with the same facility (MGA Research) that works with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) for their car seat tests.
This booster is highly adjustable for kids of various sizes, it is easy for parents and kids to use, and it is a high-quality option that got good marks for comfort. We’ve tested more than 80 car seats in different categories. If you are unsure which kind of car seat is right for you, check out our Best Car Seats Review to get more information. We also have reviews for the best infant car seats for a new baby and top-ranked convertible car seats for older babies. If you are looking for other baby gear, we’ve compiled a list of award winners for easy browsing. When we were working on the original version of this guide, in 2018, we hired an independent lab to conduct crash testing on the booster seats that we considered as our top contenders.
As we explain in this post on how to clean a car seat, it’s important to follow the instructions; failing to do so can compromise the safety of the seat and/or its textiles. The Britax Skyline is a high-back booster seat with push-button alligator LATCH connectors that can convert to backless. It worked fine, but one of our 8-year-old testers had a hard time getting a proper seat-belt graco turbobooster fit. The pretensioner activates after the belt is already locked, to take even more slack out of the harness. While pretensioners and force limiters have been standard in the front seats of vehicles since 2008, they are not standard in the back seats of most cars. Airplane seats have lap belts only, so the TurboBooster LX and all booster seats are not approved for use on airplanes.
The TurboBooster Grow includes two dishwasher-safe cupholders. One is slightly larger than the other but both are adequate graco car seat to hold drinks and small furry friends. Once assembled, the TurboBooster Grow weighs in at a very reasonable 8 pounds.
Similar to the Graco TurboBooster LX, the Monterey 2XT comes with simple, hook-style LATCH anchors (unlike the Chicco seat’s alligator-style LATCH system). The Monterey 2XT seat’s anchors are initially challenging to fish out from the seat, but they make the seat easy to install (though it can be a bit tricky to disconnect them). As with our other picks, the Monterey 2XT’s seat-tightening pulls are through the front of the seat, not the side, which makes tightening the LATCH straightforward.