Car Seats

Best Car Seats

Overall Score

Baby Trend Secure Snap Gear 32

Infant Car Seats

Secure Snap Gear 32 infant seats are offered by Baby-Trend in addition to a variety of other baby products

CR Expert Take

How did it perform in our expert lab testing?

Overall Score

The Overall Score for this model is derived from our expert lab test results.

Current Range of Tested Infant Car Seats

What goes into the Overall Score?

EXPERT LAB TESTS

Ease of use

4 / 5

Fit-to-vehicle LATCH

4 / 5

Fit-to-vehicle belt

3 / 5

Fit-to-vehicle carrier-only

N / A

Maximum weight (lbs.)

Crash protection

Best

Pros

Harness adjustment does not require re-threading harness
Push-on LATCH connectors
Recline indicator gives two different ranges based on child's weight
32 lb. rear facing weight capacity
Excellent labels and instructions

Cons

Multiple harness loops even with an external adjust harness
Buckle stiff to close
LATCH webbing can get stuck inside base making it difficult to tighten and release
Cannot be secured in cars using belts anchored more than 2" forward of seat back

CR's Take

A good performer overall, the Baby Trend Secure Snap Gear 32 separates itself with excellent labels and instructions. Samples produced after 6-11-16 showed no structural integrity issues during crash testing, resulting in a BEST score for crash protection. See additional information below regarding the performance of earlier production samples.

Detailed Test Results

Consumer Reports’ car seat crash test, developed in 2014, provides comparative performance information on which car seats could provide an additional margin of safety. All child seats sold in the United States are required to meet government safety standards, and Consumer Reports’ tests are not designed to test compliance with those standards. Rather, we evaluate the seats’ performance under conditions designed by our experts to simulate certain crash scenarios, and rate them on a scale ranging from “basic” to “best.” The test conditions have been carefully designed to simulate the interior environment and forces encountered during a crash in contemporary vehicles. For more information on our crash test protocol, please click here.

About

The Baby Trend Secure Snap Gear 32 is part of the Car Seats test program at Consumer Reports. In our lab tests, Infant Car Seats models like the Secure Snap Gear 32 are rated on multiple criteria, such as those listed below.

Maximum weight: The maximum weight of a child that a model will accommodate.

Ease of use: Includes the clarity of instructions, installing the seat, adjusting harness positions, placing a child in the seat, securing the harness, and removing the child.

Fit-to-vehicle LATCH: A rating of how easy it is to securely and correctly install each seat using the LATCH system in a variety of vehicles and how well the seats fit each vehicle once installed.

Additional Information

In Consumer Reports’ new crash tests, early production (6-22-15 thru 1-31-16) samples of the Baby Trend Secure Snap Gear 32 car seat detached from their bases in 3 of 3 tests conducted with the 22lb dummy representing a 12 month old child. Though the child-sized dummy remained secure within the carrier and harness, the detachment of the carrier could jeopardize the seat’s ability to effectively protect a child in any subsequent impacts occurring during a crash event. If you own an early production Secure Snap Gear 32, and have concerns, you can purchase a base from the Baby Trend EZ Flex-Loc 32 seat ($49.99). When tested with that base, we saw no issues in our tests. You can also contact Baby Trend customer service at 1-800-328-7363 or at Babytrend.com. Samples produced between 1-31-16 and 6-11-16 incorporated design changes that eliminated full detachment of the carrier but still result in some separation when tested with the heavier 30lb test dummy in our test. Though less severe, even partial separation could result in a lesser margin of safety when compared to other models subjected to the same test protocol.

Features & Specs

Features

Load leg

LATCH connections

Push-on

Harness height adjustment

External

Harness tension adjustment

Single Pull Front

Base recline level indicator type

None

Base recline level indicator position

N/A

Carrier recline level indicator type

Pendulum / dual range

Carrier recline level indicator position

One Side

Adjustable base

Yes

Belt lockoff

Yes

Adjustable crotch strap

Handle restriction

Carrier use without base

Yes

Spanish language instructions

Available

Specs

Weight range (lbs.)

5-32

Height range (in.)

32" or less

Carrier weight (lbs.)

Seat/base weight (lbs.)

Base width (in.)

Carrier width (in.)

Overall length (in.)

Good small car fit

Price & Shop

Baby Trend Secure Snap Gear 32

Price

Description

CR Expert Take

Overall Score

What goes into the Overall Score?

EXPERT LAB TESTS

CR's Take

Detailed Test Results

About

Additional Information

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