All car seats are safe if they’re installed and used properly, are not expired or damaged, and when they’re made and sold by a reputable manufacturer and/or retailer. Click here for our full list of car seats that we do not recommend. Convertible car seats have similar designs with few apparent differences that are not cosmetic. However, the options diverge in ease of use, with some being significantly easier to use than other contenders, thanks to extra features or better functionality of features like buckles.
Even though she is over the weight limit for rear facing, I put her in to show that children very likely WILL get to the full 50 pounds rear facing in this seat. Even tall children, like the 6 year old doll, have allowed us to see that this seat is tall enough to last rear facing. When in the car with the extender fully out, she was quite comfortable and enjoyed the seat quite graco car seat a lot. She asked to go for a ride in it, though I had to turn her down because she’s over the weight limit. She had a lot of leg room available to her, looking for all the world as if she was in the world’s most comfortable recliner. We’d love to see a slit added to the cover just over the rear facing belt path or to have the cover be easier to remove around the belt path.
In the U.S., Dr. Hoffman points out, all car seats must have a five-point harness and a chest clip. If you’re unsure, he recommends going to the car seat manufacturer’s website and making sure it meets NHTSA safety graco car seat requirements. The Nuna RAVA is an attractive car seat with a brand name that’s become synonymous with baby gear luxury, but it also has a number of safety features to earn the loyalty of more practical parents.
We collect the details you need to choose the right car seat for your needs and your wallet. We purchase two of each car seat we review, one for crash testing and one for in-house testing, so you can trust that our results are unbiased and honest. When it comes to making a car seat as simple as possible to install, Britax has figured out how to build a better mousetrap—period.
The headrest and the infant insert material are much nicer, with a soft and somewhat cooling feel. The insert doesn’t offer much additional padding, and the headrest is wider than most, which causes somewhat of a lack of support. The headrest has foam padding, but the space between the two sides is very wide.