One big decision plaguing many caregivers who visit our Facebook group is deciding when it’s time to turn their child’s car seat forward facing. When the child is at least two years old, and has outgrown the rear facing height or weight limits on their convertible car seat, the decision has been made for us, and it’s time to convert the car seat to forward facing mode.
The Cosco Easy Elite multimode car seat is a cross between the long-lamented Alpha Omega/Alpha Omega Elite/ 3-in-1 car seat and the new, largely fantastic Grow and Go. This budget option retails for around $100 and has a lot of nice features as well as a few shortcomings.
We’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Graco Extend2Fit. While we’re waiting, our guest author and CSFTL Facebook Forum Moderator Bridget has graciously given us a sneak peek at this exciting new seat! Thanks, Bridget!
Transport Canada has announced a recall on Canadian Tire Apramo and Kukuxumusu Booster Seats for non compliance with stiffness and flammability requirements.
The LiteMax is lightweight and offers a superb fit for even small babies. It features creature comforts that include Outlast fabrics, a padded insert, and padded harness/buckle covers.
We were excited to see a new seat arrive that keeps some of the greatest features of the original Nautilus, improves on its quirks, and rivals the Harmony Defender as the narrowest recommended combination seat on the market. Meet the Graco Tranzitions!
On January 4, 2016, Transport Canada announced the following recall on the Kids Embrace Friendship Series Cinderella Combination Booster Seat.
Last year Consumer Reports changed their crash testing criteria used to evaluate rear facing only seats. This year, they have expanded that testing to convertible seats. From the Consumer Reports website, “Changes from the way that convertible seats were rated previously include using a test bench that better simulates the vehicle seat design from a contemporary vehicle, with more representative cushion stiffness and seat geometry and incorporation of a “blocker” to simulate a front seatback. The new test also runs at a higher 35mph speed, with other representative dynamic characteristics that better simulate the behavior of contemporary vehicles during a crash.”
Since 2009, the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), has been annually releasing their booster ratings, based primarily on fit of the 6 year old dummy, and, as we all know, fit is the best indication of performance. No matter how much bling your booster has, if it doesn’t place the seatbelt properly on your child, it can’t do its job.
Hauck is a well-known German company with about a century of experience making baby gear. We met Hauck at ABC Kids Expo in 2014, and were happy to see them at Kidz in Motion this past August as well. After selling strollers in the US for a short while, Hauck recently released a completely new rear facing only seat here in the United States.
