Car Seat Ratings
In 2008, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began compiling and publishing car seat ratings for ease of use.
These ratings are separate from safety and crash test ratings. The NHTSA reminds visitors to its website that all of the seats it rates for ease of use meet their standards for safety.
The NHTSA has specified four areas in which it evaluates ease of use for car seats: Evaluation of Instructions; Vehicle Installation Features; Securing the Child; and Evaluation of Labels. For each category, the NHTSA assigns a star rating, with the stars meaning the following:
Five Stars – Excellent features on this child restraint for this category.
Four Stars – Above average features on this child restraint for this category.
Three Stars – Average features on this child restraint for this category.
Two Stars – Below average features on this child restraint for this category.
One Star – Poor features on this child restraint for this category.
N/A – Does not contain any features that require a rating.
These new car seat ratings may prove to be a valuable resource for parents who are shopping for car seats. Ease of use is often cited as one of the most important features for car seats, after, of course, safety.
In searching the NHTSA’s well-presented site about the ease of use ratings, we find that no infant car seat has received five stars in overall ease of use.
However, six carseats (from brands such as Baby Trend, Britax, Chicco, Combi and Peg Perego) received four stars.
Convertible car seats fared even more poorly, with only one seat (the Ricaro Signo, only in its forward-facing configuration) getting four stars.
For forward facing only car seats, the Safeguard Child Seat came out on top with five stars. Graco’s Toddler SafeSeat received four stars.
Among combination carseats, five received four stars, among 3-in-1 seats, there were none. Booster seats did the best in car seat ratings, with six different models receiving five stars in the NHTSA’s evaluations, and six more receiving four star ratings.
This is no surprise, given the easier overall function of a booster seat versus a toddler or infant seat.
