Top Rated Infant Car Seats
A quality infant car seat is a safety necessity, and not all infant car seats are in the same way. The best seats have features that improve the performance of crash tests. For example, load legs are shock absorbing parts that are affixed to the base or seat and help to reduce movement during the event of a collision.
Chicco KeyFit is a favorite of CPST instructors. It features an rear-facing weight, a the height limit is high, a bubble-level indicator, and a spring loaded foot that can recline to make it easy to install.
Graco Mesa Max
The Graco Mesa Max is one of the top infant car seats in terms of ease of use. It has great fabrics and a simple design and a convenient feature to connect a child's harness to the headrest, making it easier to tighten. It also comes with a huge canopy that makes it easy to keep your baby sheltered while traveling. It's a little heavier than a standard stroller, which is an issue if you plan to carry it around, or use it with your award-winning UPPAbaby.
The Mesa Max's impressive results in crash tests reflect its commitment to safety. It scored a high mark in the frontal impact test, and a top score in the side impact test, which means that your baby is protected from both sides in the event of a collision.
Another noteworthy safety feature is the Graco's anti-rebound panel which helps reduce the force of rebound during a crash and safeguards your child's head. This feature is not common in car seats for infants and makes the Mesa Max stand out among its rivals.
When paired with the base When used in conjunction with the base Graco Mesa Max can be installed quickly and securely into your vehicle with LATCH. The load leg, recline angle adjustment as well as the tightness indicator help ensure a quick, accurate installation. The base weighs 12.6 This is a bit more than the average car seat for infants, but not enough to cause an issue.
Similar to its predecessor, the UPPAbaby Mesa V2, the Mesa Max uses dual-knit fabric that's free of fire-retardant chemicals. It comes with an infinitely adjustable backrest as well as an extremely sturdy insert for infants weighing 4-11 lbs. The fabric is GREENGUARD Gold Certified, which means they are tested for low VOCs and chemical emissions.
The UPPAbaby Mesa Max is slightly more expensive than other options, but it has top features and modern security technologies to provide the best traveling experience. The included base and a variety of fashionable colorways enhance the value proposition. Its thoughtful design and sturdy features provide peace of for parents on every journey.
Britax Boulevard ClickTight
The Britax Blvd ClickTight is a great option for parents who are looking for a car seat they can grow with. The weight limit for rear-facing is 40 pounds, which is more than most infant car seats. It can be used forward-facing up to the point that your child weighs 65 pounds.
The ClickTight Installation System is its major selling feature. It is the safest, most simple and secure system on the market. The seat belt can be tightened by pressing a red release and pulling the harness strap. This makes it unnecessary to remove and rethread your seatbelt. This decreases the chance of incorrectly tightening a seat belt which is the most common cause of car seat failure.
The EZ-Buckle Pad adds another security feature that keeps the buckle in place while you place your child in the car seat. This feature, along with beltpath cutouts on the sides of the seat, make it easy to get them in and out of the vehicle.
The three ClickTight convertible seats (Boulevard, Marathon CT, and Advocate CT) have the same features. They include the ClickTight Installation System and an impact-absorbing base that has 7 recline positions, a rip-stitch energy-absorbing harness pad, a tether that is HUGS, a steel-reinforced frame, and EPP energy-absorbing foam.
The seat is fairly heavy, however, so you might want to consider a lighter option if plan to make use of it for travel or frequent car swaps. The seat is quite large and therefore may not fit in smaller cars.
If you're looking for a budget-friendly seat with similar quality the Graco 4Ever is a great option. This seat has lower crash tests scores than the Boulevard but is a great option for your child.
The Graco also comes with push-on LATCH connectors that make it simpler to uninstall the seat. The Boulevard's LATCH connectors feature an additional release mechanism, which requires the user to press a grey button and pull the webbing to loosen it. This can be difficult if your webbing is tense. This seat has a handy compartment to store the belt straps.
Clek Liing
Clek Liing is the perfect infant car seat you should consider If you're looking for everything: style, safety and comfort. This rear-facing car seat is simple to install, comes with an excellent crash test rating and a range of features.
The Liing is designed with features that exceed US and Canadian safety regulations. It's engineered for a simple, secure installation in any seating position. It's loaded with advanced safety features such as an energy-absorbing metal load leg as well as two-piece shells lined with EPP foam for increased side-impact protection. The base comes with 7 recline positions and an indicator bubble that tells you that the seat is just the perfect angle for your child.
The Liing is loved by parents for its modern and sleek design, and its unique safety features, such as rigid lower anchors that are simpler to attach than hook-and-loop connectors. The Liing has a one-handed quick release, making it easy to remove the base and connect it to strollers that are compatible with it. It's also slim enough to fit three-across many vehicles, and it can be easily inserted into a convertible car seat as a travel boost.
The Liing infant seat earns an impressive 1st place in terms of ease of installation thanks to its unique rigid-LATCH system. The lower anchors of the Liing click right into the vehicle's lower seat belt slots and the seat's top tether strap snaps onto the headrest of the vehicle, creating a tight, secure fit that eliminates the risk of the child being thrown around during an accident.
The seat is light with the base weighting 9 lbs, and the car itself at a manageable 10.5 pounds. Other rear-facing seats are heavier, however, the difference isn't noticeable if you plan to carry the car seat and base around. ).
Parents appreciate the Liing's built in canopy and 100+spf sun-protection with a mesh peekaboo window. Parents love the merino cover that keeps baby warm and they also love the seat's handle's ability to pivot over the canopy which makes it more comfortable to grab when needed.
Graco Trio Grow SnugLock LX
The Graco Trio GROW SnugLock is a 3-in-1 seat that converts from a rear-facing infant to a forward-facing harness, and later to the highback booster. It features the SnugLock system that allows for a simple and smooth installation using lower anchors or car seat belts. It has the option of using the top tether when in booster mode. (We suggest using the lower anchors for extra security.)
We like that this seat does so much for children of different age groups. It comes with an infant insert for younger babies that helps support their backs and necks. As they grow older, the insert can be removed and the seat can be used as a regular toddler car seat. This is the few car seats that allow the top tether to be used as a booster. We highly recommend it.
Its base is compact from front to back, which means it shouldn't pose a problem fitting in most vehicles. It does require the headrest to be raised, however, to allow an easy route to the lower anchor webbing. Luckily, there's a headrest adjustment knob to easily accomplish this, and you'll be able to observe the position of the headrest in the display window.
best car seat of the most unique features about this seat is the SnugLock installation system that is an anchor that is in the belt path. This makes installing the car seat with the lower anchors a breeze and nearly as simple as using the seat belt of your vehicle.
The manual provides a fantastic illustration of how to guide the lower anchor connectors in a correct manner through the belt path, which can initially be confusing. It's important to keep them out of the crotch buckle loop, and away from the chest clip, so that they don't hinder the buckling system.
The Graco Trio Grow is part of the Protect Plus Engineered family, which means it's been tested to some of the most rigorous crash testing in the industry. This includes tests for side, rear and rollover crashes as well as frontal collisions.