Two of our members were lucky enough to be able travel to Chicago, Illinois this weekend to attend the 33rd Annual Lifesavers Convention. Lifesavers is an all-encompassing highway safety conference. Its attendees range from CPSTs to Highway Patrol.
Today we were lucky enough to hear from a variety of manufacturers about their latest updates and innovations.
Anyone who has been doing this kid thing for a while knows how much the world of car seats has changed even in the last decade, let alone the last twenty years. I’m the admin currently with the oldest “Little” so I’ve been at this for a while now. AJ is 11.5 years old now and I’ve been a Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) for almost nine years now; so I like to think I have a lot of real world experience when it comes to the changes that have been made over the years.
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.
Booster seats serve one primary purpose: to place the car’s seat belt over 3 strong points of a child’s body. A properly fitting booster will sit low over the hips and across the center of the shoulder to spread the possible force from a crash over these strong areas.
Many of our readers have questions about rear facing installation of the Safety 1st Guide 65. This seat definitely has some quirks, so here’s the down and dirty, step by step installation guide of the Guide 65.
*This seat has been discontinued* The car seat market is full of backless boosters whose entire purpose is to position the belt properly on children who are not ready to use the adult seat belt. They are available in every price range, from under $14 to close to $100. Finding one that meets your needs and
Ilana has a long torso for her age and doesn’t have much room left in her other boosters. She needed something taller (the third row of the Town and Country doesn’t work for backless boosters and with five kids in seats, moving her isn’t an option). The van has had problems with Safety 1st boosters in the past, but it was a good price and super cool, so decided to give it a shot.
The Safety 1st Advance SE 65 Air + convertible car seat is a recent addition to the Safety 1st roster of child restraints. We were excited to take it and its multiple recline positions, a no re-thread harness and generous weight and height allowances out for a spin!
The Safety 1st Comfy Carry Elite is one of Safety 1st’s many offerings for rear facing only seats. The Comfy Carry Elite is a lower priced seat, with a good range of features that make it easy to use. It is also a good seat for fitting smaller newborns, and preemies. With a retail price of $59.99, it’s a budget-friendly option for baby’s first ride.
The Safety 1st Complete Air is a nicely priced, lightweight convertible seat that fits in some narrow spaces, but can take up quite a bit of room front to back.
