Both the NHTSA and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that a child ride rear-facing until they reach the height and weight limits of the seat—and we wanted those limits to be generous. Keeping a child rear-facing until they’re 4 years old is an ambitious and oft-cited benchmark; that would mean an average of about 35 inches tall and 40 pounds. The Graco Extend2Fit Convertible Car Seat grows with graco turbobooster your child from rear-facing harness (4-50 lbs) to forward-facing harness (22-65 lbs). It features a 4-position extension panel that provides up to 5” of extra rear-facing legroom, allowing your child to safely ride rear-facing longer. Children are safer riding rear-facing and should ride rear-facing as long as possible, until they reach the maximum rear-facing height or weight rating for their car seat.
Also, the Foonf is expensive, which is why we’re recommending this seat with the full awareness that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. We spoke with 10 experts on car seat safety, policy, and installation. We looked closely at the results of government testing conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the federal agency charged with road safety. All car seats sold in the US are self-certified by their manufacturers to pass the NHTSA’s strict standards (PDF) for safety testing.
Most of the seats are some variation or combination of snaps, elastic loops, and tucking in of fabric. None are overly challenging, but certainly, some are better than others. The easiest to remove include the Evenflo Tribute 5, Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Convertible, and the Safety 1st Grow and Go All-in-One.
Most convertible car seats will run between $250 and $400, with some higher-end options costing upwards of $500. It can be costly upfront, but remember these car seats are meant to last several years. Our tests determined that some seats are easier to install using LATCH instead of the vehicle belt. However, surprisingly, many options are easier to install using the vehicle belt not the LATCH.
Dual cup holders transport favorite drinks and snacks, and are easily removable and dishwasher-safe. Getting kids in and out of the car is made easier with harness holders that keep harness straps out of the way. A car seat must be locked in place for safe installation, and outside of the US and Canada, vehicle seatbelts typically don’t have the same locking mechanism as US and Canadian vehicles do. But the great thing about the Graco 4Ever DLX Grad is that it has a built-in seat belt lock-off! This means you don’t need to worry about using a locking clip when traveling internationally.
We have not tested them because the other Graco models that we did test are more popular and widely available. However, the SlimFit3 LX 3-in-1 is only 16.7 inches wide and designed to fit three across in a back seat, which may be appealing to some families. From a value standpoint, it can be hard to justify spending over $500 on a car seat when there are great alternatives that cost about half as much—including our top pick, the Graco Extend2Fit Convertible. And it’s irritating that if you do decide to shell out half a grand on a Foonf, you’d still have to buy a cupholder. It is available in a range of colors, with either white or black plastic sides.
At just about 16 pounds, this is really lightweight for a convertible seat, which means it’s easy to move from car to car as needed. Some lock-offs work a little better than others, but even those that are challenging, graco turbobooster still provide a more secure feeling installation in our tests than seats without a lock-off. We found that options with a lock-off were as secure when installed with a belt as with the LATCH (some even more so).
Securing the buckles this way means you’re not digging around underneath your child when they inevitably sit on them, frustrating both of you. The car seat hooks are push button and easy to release when taking the seat out of the car. They are super easy to clean-all of the pads are snapped in and easy to remove and throw in the washer and hang to dry. The leg panel has multiple settings and can give up to 5″ of extra leg room for a rear-facing child.
Our tester was immediately impressed by how durable the seat felt. We found that, overall, the installation process was intuitive and took only about five minutes to complete. The buckles and straps were firm and a little hard to use at first, and we also found that the straps snagged when being adjusted.
The high back mode can accommodate a child with a torso height of up to 20.5″ if you remove the belt trainer and up to 19″ if you leave it in. The backless booster mode is very bulky and not our favorite of the modes. It’s very low profile and easy to carry around if they are carpooling. The cushions are flame resistant and contain no flame-retardant chemicals. It’s also Greenguard Gold certified, which means the materials have met some of the world’s most rigorous third-party chemical emissions standards and don’t contain any indoor air pollutants.