Skip to Main Content
Home & Garden Food Safety Cars Best Time To Buy Repair or Replace Home & Garden
AskCR Try AskCR

Suggested Searches

Recent Searches

Suggested Searches

Product Ratings

Resources

Chat With AskCR

Resources

All Products A-Z
Your membership has expired

The payment for your account couldn't be processed or you've canceled your account with us.

Re-activate
Join Now Upgrade Donate
Car Seats
close

Best Car Seats

All CR Recommended

Most Popular

Best Infant Car Seats Best All-in-One Car Seats Best Convertible Car Seats
CR Recommended

Britax Poplar

Harnessed Car Seats / Convertible Car Seats
0-gallery-image
0-gallery-image
1-gallery-image
2-gallery-image
Poplar

The Britax Poplar is a convertible car seat designed for use with children weighing between 5 and 65 lb., and can be used rear-facing up to 50 lb. The Poplar offers 14 height positions to grow with your child, and features a slim, 17-inch profile designed to accommodate three-across car seats. Installation is streamlined thanks to the lockoff mechanism, which helps tighten either the lower anchor strap or the seatbelt, though the manufacturer recommends seatbelt installation. 

Price

$350.00

Description

The Britax Poplar is a convertible car seat designed for use with children weighing between 5 and 65 lb., and can be used rear-facing up to 50 lb. The Poplar offers 14 height positions to grow with your child, and features a slim, 17-inch profile designed to accommodate three-across car seats. Installation is streamlined thanks to the lockoff mechanism, which helps tighten either the lower anchor strap or the seatbelt, though the manufacturer recommends seatbelt installation. 

73
Britax Poplar
PRICE $350.00

CR's 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 Harnessed Car Seats
What goes into the Overall Score?

EXPERT LAB TESTS

Ease of use
4  /  5
Forward facing fit-to-vehicle
5  /  5
Rear facing fit-to-vehicle
4  /  5
Booster fit
N  /  A
Rear LATCH
4  /  5
Rear belt
3  /  5
Forward LATCH
5  /  5
Forward belt
5  /  5
Harnessed crash protection
BEST
Good small car fit
Yes

Pros

  • Excellent crash protection in CR’s rigorous crash testing
  • Promotes extended rear-facing, thanks to a 50-lb. rear-facing weight limit
  • Uses flame-retardant chemical-free fabrics 
  • Fabrics are machine-washable and dryer safe
  • No-rethread harness
  • Includes a tensioning and lock-off feature (“ClickTight”) to help easily increase seat belt tension
  • Has a long lifespan, thanks to a 10-year expiration date

Cons

  • LATCH use is limited to 30 lb. in rear-facing mode
  • LATCH connectors are hook-on only
  • Recline bubble indicators are large but the ball seems to get stuck, making recline angle assessment inconsistent
  • Rear-facing recline angle may be too upright for a newborn, even within bubble indicator range

CR's Take

The Britax Poplar convertible car seat is designed to accommodate children between 5 and 65 lb. It offers extended rear-facing use up to 50 lb., making it a good choice for families looking to keep their child rear-facing for longer, which CR experts say is the safest way for children to ride in vehicles. The Poplar offers excellent crash protection and uses flame-retardant chemical-free fabrics, and the seat pads are both machine-washable and dryer safe. This convertible car seat offers plenty of convenient features, such as a tensioning and lock-off mechanism to help secure the seatbelt or lower anchor strap during installation, and a no-rethread harness. 

 

This seat may be a good choice for: 

  • Families looking to switch from an infant car seat
  • Families looking to extend rear-facing use

Detailed Test Results

Ease of use: Our testers found the Britax Poplar generally easy to use, with easy-to-read labeling and large recline indicators. However, the sticky movement of the recline indicator ball can make assessing the recline angle difficult or even inconsistent. We also found that the rear-facing recline angle can be too upright for newborns, even though the indicator says it’s within range. The ClickTight lockoff mechanism simplifies installation, but to access it, you first need to remove layers of padding, which can be cumbersome.

Fit-to-vehicle LATCH: The Britax Poplar seat offers excellent fit-to-vehicle when used with the LATCH system in forward-facing mode. The manufacturer requires the top tether to be used in forward-facing position. We had some difficulty in some test vehicles with getting a secure installation using LATCH when rear-facing.

Fit-to-vehicle Belt: The Britax Poplar offers excellent fit-to-vehicle when used with the seatbelt installation method in forward-facing mode. We had some difficulty in some test vehicles with getting a secure installation using the seatbelt in rear-facing mode. The manufacturer recommends using the seatbelt installation over LATCH. 

Crash protection: In CR’s crash test protocol, the Britax Poplar performed well and did not exhibit significant structural integrity issues.

About

The Britax Poplar is part of the Car Seats test program at Consumer Reports. In our lab tests, Harnessed Car Seat models like the Poplar are rated on multiple criteria, such as those listed below.

Ease of use: Our judgment of how easy each seat is to use including the clarity of labels and instructions, adjustments of clips and buckles, the transition of the seat between modes and installation features such as LATCH connections, belt paths, top tethers and booster guides.

Forward facing fit-to-vehicle: A rating of how compatible, easy and secure a child car seat can be correctly installed in the forward-facing direction. This rating is a combination of the LATCH system and belt ratings that are available individually on the model page.

Rear facing fit-to-vehicle: A rating of how compatible, easy and secure a child car seat can be correctly installed in the rear-facing direction. This rating is a combination of LATCH system and belt ratings that are available individually on the model page.

Additional Information

Good to know: All child car seats sold in the United States are required to meet government safety standards. 

About our testing: Consumer Reports’ child car seat tests are not designed to test compliance with federal standards. Rather, we evaluate car seat performance under conditions designed by our experts that go beyond the required federal safety standards. 

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 to other models in the same category. 

Basic, Better, or Best: CR rates the child car seats we crash test on a scale of Basic, Better, and Best, based on the additional margin of safety they may provide. Read about how we test car seats to learn more about our crash test protocol.