How to Choose the Safest Car Seat for Your Child

“All car seats sold in the U.S. are required to meet the federal safety standards, so parents are guaranteed that they meet a minimum threshold for safety,” says Emily A. Thomas, PhD, associate director of auto safety at Consumer Reports. 

Since 2014, the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213 (FVMSS 213) has been the standard for crash performance of car seats, and manufacturers self-certify that their products meet these minimum safety requirements. As of June 30, 2025, an updated standard, the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 213a, means that all car seats sold in the U.S. designed for children under 40 pounds must meet new standards aimed to improve side-impact protection. You don’t need to replace your car seat as long as you have a model that meets the previous FMVSS 213 standard (look for the red FMVSS 213 label to confirm).

Additionally, CR developed its own crash-test protocol to evaluate car seat performance beyond the required federal safety standards, which helps caregivers compare car seats. “Consumer Reports’ testing goes beyond the federal standard and evaluates crash protection to determine what additional margins of safety the model provides compared to its peers,” says Thomas.

But no car seat can provide optimal crash protection if it hasn’t been properly installed. That’s why it’s so critical to install car seats correctly, secure your child the right way every single time, and make sure you’re using the appropriate seat for your child’s weight, height, and age. 

Even if you’ve purchased one of the car seats CR determined to have the “best” safety potential, you can make a seat less safe by making one of the many common car seat installation mistakes. 

The safest car seat for your child will depend on a number of factors, including their age, weight, and height, as well as the size of your car. Here’s what to keep in mind while narrowing down your options. 

Consumer Reports’ independent car seat crash-test program has been carefully designed to simulate the forces encountered during a crash, while replicating some of the real-world factors that might impact a car seat’s performance. Our testing aims to determine which car seats could provide an extra level of safety when compared with other models in the same category. 

First, we evaluate car seats by testing them on a seat cushion that more accurately represents the dimensions and firmness of the seats in current vehicles rather than the flatter "test bench" equipment required by the government. 

We contract with an outside lab to conduct simulated 35-mph frontal crashes, evaluating a seat’s potential for providing an additional margin of safety beyond the federal standard, which simulates a 30-mph frontal crash. We also test with the addition of a simulated front seatback surface that resembles the environment of a real vehicle. By comparison, the federal standard test does not include a simulated seatback.

CR’s certified child passenger safety technicians also install each seat in all unique rear-seat positions of five types of family vehicles. We look at how easy it is to install in each allowable orientation, using both LATCH anchors as well as the vehicle’s seat belts.

At our Auto Test Center, CR’s certified child passenger safety technicians also evaluate how easy each seat is to use. This includes, among other factors, the clarity of instructions, installation, adjusting the harness, and the seat’s weight.

Car seats are designed for different stages of a child’s life, and Consumer Reports recommends that children move through three types of car seats as they grow to ensure they are in the safest car seat for their weight, size, and age.

Babies up to 1 year of age or 30 pounds should ride in a rear-facing-only infant seat. At age 1, they should move to a convertible, or all-in-one, seat that’s first installed facing the rear, then switched to forward-facing as the child gets older. These types of car seats tend to stay installed in the vehicle, as opposed to an infant car seat, which typically snaps into and out of a base that’s anchored to the vehicle.

When your child outgrows their convertible seat (usually around age 4), kids should transition to a booster seat, which raises them up to allow the car’s seat belts to fit them safely.

Once your child transitions to a convertible car seat, Consumer Reports and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend keeping them rear-facing until they are at least 2 years old or reach the maximum weight or height limit for a rear-facing convertible, or all-in-one, seat. 

Why? “Real-world injury and fatality data has shown that sitting in the rear-facing orientation is safer for children, particularly when they are babies and very young,” says Thomas. “When they are rear-facing, the crash forces are spread across the back of the car seat, rather than across the child’s body when forward-facing.”

It is not only best to keep your child rear-facing until at least age 2 but also the law in many states. Failure to comply can result in a fine.

Child-seat manufacturers are also getting on board. Many have labeling and instructions that indicate a minimum age of 2 years to be forward-facing. 

It’s easy to assume that making the transition from an infant seat to a convertible or all-in-one is the right time to also switch to a forward-facing position. But a change in seat type shouldn’t mean a change in orientation. Convertible or all-in-one seats can be installed in both rear- and forward-facing configurations. This will probably be the seat your child sits in for the longest period of time.

You might think that your child looks uncomfortable riding rear-facing, but research has found that children are just as comfortable, if not more so, riding that way as those who face forward. Children are much more flexible than adults, so even though their folded legs might look awkward, it probably doesn’t feel that way to them.

Your child seat should fit not only your child but also your car. If you can’t test-fit a seat before purchasing it, make sure you can return or exchange the seat if it doesn’t work out. (You can sort CR’s car seat ratings by “Good small car fit” to see the seats that are more likely to work in smaller backseats.) Once you’ve chosen a car seat, the next step is installing it. You should:

• Carefully read the manuals for both your vehicle and the car seat.
• Check the recline angle of rear-facing car seats. That’s critical, especially for newborns. An overly upright seat may allow an infant’s head to fall forward, obstructing their breathing. Look for rear-facing seats with a built-in level indicator to help you get the seat properly reclined.
• Child seats can be installed using your vehicle’s seat belts, but it can be easier to get a secure fit using LATCH, a standardized system of anchors built into most vehicles since September 2002.
• To secure a forward-facing child car seat, always attach and tighten the top tether, whether the seat is installed with the lower anchors or a seat belt.
• You might have to remove the vehicle’s head restraint to allow a forward-facing seat to fit properly against the vehicle’s seatback.
• Make sure that the harness is tight enough; you shouldn’t be able to pinch any fabric at your child’s shoulder.

Car seats for children have improved significantly since they were first designed in the early 1960s, and that progress is continuing. One advancement, which is more commonly available in Europe, is the "load leg." 

Load legs, aka foot props, give an infant car seat additional support by extending a rod from the seat’s base to the vehicle’s floor. It provides additional stabilization by limiting the seat’s forward motion during a crash, which helps reduce the transfer of crash energy to your child in the event of a collision.

“In our testing, load legs have demonstrated a reduction in injury risk,” says Thomas. CR crash results demonstrate a 46 percent decrease in head-injury risk in infant seats with the load leg compared with seats without it. 

“Not all car seats with load legs are created equal, though,” Thomas says. “It’s important to look at the seat’s performance in crash testing overall, so pay attention to CR’s crash protection rating.”

Bear in mind, too, that not all vehicle manufacturers allow the use of load leg seats, or they may limit the seating positions. Check your owner’s manual for load-leg compatibility. 

Car seats are recalled from time to time. To make sure you’re notified about recalls, register your car seat on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website. You can look up recall information on the Consumer Product Safety Commission site by inputting the brand and model name of your car seat.

Parents also may not realize that car seats expire—the lifespan of most is about six to 10 years. After that time, car seat parts can degrade, making them less safe. You may be able to find the expiration date on the manufacturing label, or you can check the car seat owner’s manual.

If a car seat has been involved in a car crash, you’ll want to know that too, because it could be damaged or have weakened structural integrity. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says a seat should no longer be used after a moderate or severe crash. 

All this means buying secondhand car seats can be somewhat risky because you may not know the history of a seat or whether it still meets current safety standards. If you’re inheriting a secondhand car seat, check CR’s interactive decision chart to find out whether the seat is safe for you to use.

Because all car seats sold in the U.S. must meet federal standards, an affordable seat has passed the same tough safety tests as a more expensive model. In other words, as long as the seat isn’t expired, isn’t recalled, or hasn’t been in a crash; has the FMVSS 213 label; and is installed correctly, you can feel confident it’s safe for your child, regardless of how much it costs.

As mentioned, some seats may offer additional levels of safety, which CR’s crash testing can help parents determine. But higher-priced models don’t necessarily outperform more affordable ones. “CR’s testing has shown that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a safe car seat,” says Waller. “Several of the car seats that receive a “Best” rating in our crash testing aren’t the most expensive options.”