Protect your child with a safe car seat from her very first car ride home and through the booster years, until she's grown enough for the vehicle seat belt alone. We test dozens of car seat models each year for crash performance, ease of use, and how they fit into vehicles.
View our ratings and reviews and browse our buying guide to find the best car seats.
Infant car seats install rear-facing only, and are best for babies up to a year old and weighing between 4 and 40 pounds. This type of car seat is the best first seat for most babies and the best fit for newborns. Plus the convenient carrier makes it easier to transport a small baby.
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These car seats can accommodate children rear-facing weighing 5 to 45 pounds and can then be turned forward-facing from the age of 2 through toddler years and beyond (20 to 70 pounds). A convertible car seat is a necessary second seat to keep a child rear-facing until the recommended age of 2.
Booster seats position a child that weighs 30 to 120 pounds so that the vehicle seat belt lays across their body correctly. This is the last seat after a child outgrows a forward-facing harnessed car seat and before using only a seat belt.
. . .All-in-one car seats are designed to accommodate kids from birth to booster age: Rear-facing for newborns to 2 years old (weighing 5 to 45 pounds), and forward-facing for kids that weigh 20 to 65 pounds. The booster mode of an all-in-one car seat can be used for kids weighing 30 to 120 pounds.
. . .These forward-facing seats are used with an internal harness for toddlers weighing between 20 and 90 pounds, depending on the seat. When kids reach the weight limit of the seat's internal harness, the seat can be used as a belt-positioning booster from 30 to 120 pounds.
. . .Consumer Reports tested nine, including convertible cribs and popular models from Pottery Barn Kids, Ikea, Delta, Nestig, and other brands
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