If you’ve ever worked a car seat check event, read our Recommended Seats page, or searched the internet for a great rear facing only car seat, it’s pretty likely that the Chicco KeyFit 30 or 22 made some type of appearance. It’s a well-featured, easy to use car seat that’s served many families well over
As a team of Child Passenger Safety Technicians and global safety advocates, we have seen many car seats come and go over time. While we love exploring new additions to the market, and applaud new innovation, we do enjoy reflecting on existing car seats that remain consistent, easy-to-use options in an ever-changing market. Chicco is
Maxi-Cosi started helping keep children safe in Europe in 1984 with the first rear facing only car seat. Since that time, they’ve expanded their product line to include other types of car seats and other baby products, then moved beyond Europe and into the United States. Their latest effort, the Mico Max Plus, adds some
The original Nuna PIPA rear facing only car seat has been around, serving families with ease of use and an easy installation, since the earliest days of CSFTL. You could say that we’ve grown up along with Nuna’s product line! The PIPA and PIPA Lite are a solid, popular seat that we see routinely at
I co-teach a short introductory car seat course on a regular basis. We explain why car seats are important, discuss best practices, and then take the expectant parents out to their cars to install their car seats. We demonstrate installations in the classroom using our test bench. I mention all of this because we’ve found
The Liing offers some nice installation and ease of use features — beautiful baseless belt guides, Euro routing, rigid lower anchors, and a belt tensioning plate. All of these features add up to a fairly high price point for a seat that might be outgrown fairly quickly, but they do make for a simple installation.
Evenflo has created a special line of premium car seats and strollers that consists of products we already know but with special padding and some special features added to them. We’ll start our look at these car seats with the SecureMax. This rear facing only car seat is so fancy, its full name is Evenflo
Our Canadian team would like to extend a warm welcome to Baby Jogger. The City GO is an excellent addition to the Canadian seat market, and provides a versatile seat that is lightweight, easy to install and adjust, and fits a wide range of babies well.
We’ve enjoyed following the Cybex Aton line of rear facing only seats as it’s evolved, from the original Aton to the Aton 2 and Aton Q. (If you read these, you’ll notice our review style has evolved as well!) And now, there’s a new Aton on the block, with a brand new base and some variations on Cybex’s unique features. Meet the Cybex Aton M.
The Ally 35 seems promising in many ways. The low strap height will fit infants well, and the European routing method of baseless installation and relatively light carrier weight make it a good choice for travel. However, we are very discouraged that it’s already in stores with no instructions on how to adjust the crotch buckle, and the upright angle makes us less likely to recommend it for preemies and low birthweight babies, who would fit well in it otherwise. We’d love to take a further look at the Ally 35 once the instructions in the manual are clarified.
