2016 IIHS Booster Ratings

Each year since 2009, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has released their IIHS booster ratings. These ratings are based primarily on the fit of the 6 year old crash test dummy. Fit is the best indication of performance: regardless of how many optional features a booster seat has, if it doesn’t place the vehicle seat belt properly on the child, it can’t do its job.

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Graco SlimFit Review

Families come in all shapes and sizes and have a wide variety of needs when it comes to car seats. One area where we see a lot of questions is what to do when the back seat is full of children, or when two children need to ride next to each other. We call this setup three car seats across and it’s a topic that has a lot of variables.

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ABC Kids Expo 2016: Day Two!

A common theme of our visits to the ABC Kids Expo is meals at odd times of the day. This year marks no exception to that. Today, we started with salad at 10 a.m., then moved on to lunch at 3. In between times, we fortified ourselves on little candies that benevolent manufacturers leave on their booths.

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ABC Kids Expo 2016: Day One!

Once again, the CSFTL ABC Kids Expo contingent has descended upon the otherwise calm town of Las Vegas. Watch out, nickel slots, we’re coming for you! In addition to our high stakes gambling adventures, we’re headed back into the Convention Center for this year’s Expo. Here are a few highlights of our first day on the show floor.

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Evenflo Sonus Review

The latest budget-friendly convertible car seat from Evenflo checks in at a VERY reasonable price of $79.99! It’s not often that we throw around the term game changer but at this price, it’s hard not to start thinking about the Sonus that way. Let’s see if the seat matches our expectations.

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Evenflo SafeMax Review

Evenflo’s newest mutlimode car seat boasts an exciting new feature: it’s the first seat to be rollover tested. We had a chance to meet the SafeMax in a super secret booth during our visit to the Evenflo area at the ABC Kids Expo this fall so we were eager to spend some quality time with a SafeMax of our own!

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BubbleBum Review — Updated Belt Guides

The BubbleBum has been a favorite CSFTL carpool option since the first days of our existence. Our 2013 review put the older version of this portable, inflatable, backless booster through the paces. Since then, the belt guides have been redesigned so we thought now was a good time to take a look at this updated seat.

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Graco Milestone Recall

Graco has issued a recall for the Milestone multimode car seats that were manufactured between July 2015 and October 2015 with model numbers 1910130, 1923980, 1926538, and 1926539.This is not a life-safety recall.  You may continue to use your seat.

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Terrific Car Seats for Travel

Families who are on the go often ask us which car seat is the best for airplane travel. Just like seats used exclusively in the car at home, the best travel seat is the one caregivers can install and use properly every time. Important features for travel seats can be a little different than stay-at-home car seats so we’ve compiled a few key things to keep in mind.

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