The 12 Best Convertible Car Seats, Tested and Trusted by Parents

It performed well (PDF) in front-impact crash testing carried out by the NHTSA, with good Head Injury Criterion (HIC) and chest acceleration scores. But it likely won’t make you shudder when you see it in the back of your car. It comes in several color combinations—mostly subdued variations on gray, black, and white, but turquoise and pink make an appearance, too. The seat padding doesn’t feel quite as cushiony to the touch as padding on our other, more expensive picks (which add more foam between your child’s tush and the hard seat). We also recommend the Britax Boulevard ClickTight for those whose top priority is ease of installation.

graco convertible car seat

But we at Safe in the Seat ignore that data for a few big reasons. First of all, third-party car seat crash tests don’t actually give us meaningful data! Car seat manufacturers crash-test their products hundreds, even upwards of a graco turbobooster thousand times. They crash test the finished product in every single installation configuration using every applicable-sized crash test dummy, not to mention a whole lot of testing at each stage of the development process, too.

It’s also smaller than some other options and fits comfortably in more compact cars. Overall, we liked how this car seat was easy to adjust, use, and clean. But while it does have a lower price point than many other options, it also does not convert into a booster seat.

Preemie doll did not fit well in the Extend2Fit; this is not a carseat that will work for a very small newborn. The harness was too high and there was too much space around the hips and crotch. In the rear-facing fit section, the instruction manual specifies that the harness height must be at or below the child’s shoulders. graco turbobooster If you use this seat from birth, there is a chance that it will expire before your child fits into the adult seat belt without a booster since it only lasts 10 years. Most of the time, the seat is a few months old already when you buy it. Kids need a booster until 10-12, depending on when they pass the 5-Step Test.

There are two cupholders with this seat, and both are required to be assembled when the seat is bought. They click in with ease provided they are in the correct direction. When trying to find the right convertible car seat, you want it to fit your lifestyle. “This may sound like a cliche, but the best seat is the one that fits your child, fits your car, and that you graco turbobooster are going to use correctly every time,” says Vybiralova Stanton. To test stability and security, we had testers wiggle the car seats all around once installed, ensuring it didn’t move more than one inch in each direction, and adjusting it if so. If the car seats had a rotating function, we had testers use the function to see how easy it was and try it one-handed.