3 year old Huggable Images doll, 30 pounds, 38 inches tall
We would like to take this time to introduce some highly valued members of the CSFTL family.
Back when CSFTL was new, these awesome additions were provided by Huggable Images, a company that makes safety training dolls and custom huggables. Since that time, we’ve used them very consistently for reviews and other articles. This review introduces these amazing dolls and shows how they compare to some real life children.
Huggable Images training dolls come in 6 sizes with specific stats for each. Each doll comes with a lanyard with a tag and travel bag that contains the stats for that doll in particular.
Huggable Images Dolls
Introducing the Dolls
There are 6 sizes of these amazing dolls.
 Huggable Images- Preemie | Preemie
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 Huggable Images- Infant | Infant
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 Huggable Images- 16 months old | 16 Month Old
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 Huggable Images- 3 years old | 3 Year Old
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 Huggable Images- 3 years old | 6 Year Old
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 Huggable Images- 8 years old | 8 Year Old
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About the Dolls
The dolls are made of a soft material, yet the torsos are more rigid so they don’t compress when demonstrating car seat fit and tightness. I found I could easily do the pinch test on all the dolls without the torso compressing too much. This is one downfall to buying a cheap doll at any department store. The doll, shoes, and shorts are all spot clean only, but the t-shirts can be machine washed.
With a varied range of skin tones, the dolls represent a variety of ethnicities. This pleased the multicultural families here at CSFTL.
Comparing Fit
Our original reviewer was lucky enough to have both a 16 month old and 8 year old to compare those particular dolls to. Our 16 month old weighed 18 pounds and was 30 inches tall when we first wrote this article. Our 8 year old model weighed 95 pounds and was 52 inches tall.
PreemieBecause our preemie doll is so small, finding a car seat that fits her properly can be kind of difficult. This doll is particuluarly useful when we’re working with parents who are expecting their Littles to arrive early! | ||
Newborn DollShe’s the size of an average newborn. | ||
 Chicco Keyfit | ||
16 Month OldOur toddler doll is the perfect size to be moving up to a convertible or multimode car seat. | ||
 Summer Infant Prodigy infant seat |  Cosco Apt |  Combi Coccoro |
Actual 16 Month OldHere’s a real life 16 month old to compare how our doll stacks up to a kiddo his size in these seats. | ||
 Summer Infant Prodigy infant seat |  Cosco Apt |  Combi Coccoro |
3 Years OldAt 3 years old, she’s the perfect size to see if a kiddo will still fit rear facing. Since best practice is to rear facing to age 4, our doll was rear facing in each of these car seats. | ||
 Britax Advocate 70-G3 |  Cosco Apt |  Combi Coccoro |
6 Years OldOur 6 year old is the perfect size to check both high weight harnessed car seats as well as booster seats. | ||
 Britax Advocate 70-G3 |  Evenflo Maestro harness mode |  Evenflo Big Kid Sport high back booster |
8 Years OldThe 8 year old doll is the perfect example to compare high back booster, backless booster, and no booster for the big kids. | ||
 Evenflo Big Kid Sport high back booster |  Clek Olli backless back booster |  No booster – even though he meets the minimums of states that have booster laws, he still doesn’t pass the 5 Step Test. |
8 Year OldOur human 8 year old fits in these booster seats roughly the same way that our doll does! | ||
 Evenflo Big Kid Sport high back booster |  Clek Olli backless booster |  No booster |
The Huggable Images dolls are a great comparison to average-sized children. With all my seat testing I couldn’t find any drawbacks to them. They are the perfect length to match up what a child that particular age would be.
These dolls represent an average sized child. Just because our dolls fit one seat in particular doesn’t mean all kids who are that same size or age will. The safest seat is the one that fits your child, your vehicle, your budget, and can be used correctly 100% of the time.
Beyond Showing Fit
Huggable Images doll drives safetly
These dolls aren’t just great for articles or reviews, they’re also an awesome resource for CPSTs to use during car seat checks as well. They can be used with new parents to demonstrate how their seat will fit a newborn or preemie, with ‘veteran’ parents to see how their child will fit in the next stage, and even for presentations to show how a child should fit in a seat.
Some of our admin team work with their local SafeKids organizations and with local hospitals to provide education around injury prevention.
During an average day at the office, we use Huggable Images dolls for a variety of things:
- During our car seat education course, the 3 year old, 32 pound doll displays how rarely a 2 year old weighs anywhere close to 40 pounds
- During our pedestrian safety course, the 6 year old and 8 year old dolls rode on our pretend bus
- During community events, the 6 and 8 year old dolls model proper booster seat use
- During community events, the 6 year old doll “drives” a remote controlled car through pretend city streetsDuring seat check events, the dolls help new parents practice harnessing their child into their car seats
Thank You, Huggable Images
Huggable Images school bus simulation
Since our initial meeting in 2013, Huggable Images dolls have become an integral part of our review family. While we’ve expressed our gratitude to the great team at Huggable Images many times over the years, we’d love to take this opportunity to thank them again for the opportunity to use their dolls in our reviews and articles over the years.
If you would like to order your own please visit their website, where you can find testimonials, brochures, and order forms.
Originally written by Angela Tastad. Edits maintained by the CSFTL team.
