Car Seats

Best Car Seats

Overall Score

Cybex Cloud T

The Cybex Cloud T with Load Leg Base is an infant car seat designed for rear-facing use. It can be used with babies weighing 4 lbs to 30 lbs. The seat features an anti-rebound base with a load leg and rigid LATCH connectors. The harness includes a chest clip with SensorSafe, a Bluetooth-enabled technology that sends safety alerts to your smartphone. The Cybex Cloud T also features a no-rethread harness that grows with your child and a large sun canopy.

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 Infant Car Seats

What goes into the Overall Score?

EXPERT LAB TESTS

Ease of use

4 / 5

Fit-to-vehicle LATCH

5 / 5

Fit-to-vehicle belt

5 / 5

Fit-to-vehicle carrier-only

3 / 5

Maximum weight (lbs.)

Crash protection

Best

Pros

Excellent crash protection in CR’s rigorous crash testing
Rigid LATCH connectors make LATCH installation easy
Includes SensorSafe technology
Harness can be adjusted without rethreading
Includes UPF 50 canopy for sun protection
Seat covers can be removed for machine-washing
Uses flame-retardant chemical-free fabrics

Cons

Heavy and bulky seat that may not be a good fit for smaller vehicles
The crotch strap is not adjustable, which may impact harness fit
Indicators can be tough to read
The carrier release handle can be confused with the recline release handle

CR's Take

The Cybex Cloud T with Load Leg Base is a rear-facing infant car seat designed for use with babies weighing 4 to 30 lbs., or up to 32 inches long, whichever comes first. The seat received our “Best” rating for crash protection. The base includes a load leg, which CR’s crash testing has shown can help absorb the impact from crash forces. The base is also equipped with an anti-rebound bar. Installation is simple, thanks to rigid LATCH connectors on the base, a seatbelt lockoff, and clear belt path markings for carrier-only seatbelt installation. But the seat and base are both bulky and heavy, making it difficult to move regularly between cars. The harness chest clip is equipped with SensorSafe technology, which can send updates and safety alerts to your phone.

The car seat can also recline to nearly flat levels when used outside the car, such as in a coordinating stroller to create a travel system. As a reminder, child safety experts do not recommend letting your infant sleep in a car seat when outside of the vehicle.

This seat may be a good choice for:

Families who want a dedicated infant seat for the first year before switching to a rear-facing convertible or all-in-one car seat
Anyone who needs a simple and straightforward installation process, thanks to the rigid LATCH connectors
Families who may not need to move the base frequently between cars, given the weight and bulk of the seat and base
Parents of preemies over 4 lbs

Detailed Test Results

Ease of use: In general, we found this seat incredibly easy to use, with an easily adjustable harness and headrest, as well as an easy-open buckle. The rigid LATCH connectors and seatbelt lockoff on the base make installation simple.

Fit-to-vehicle LATCH: We tested the fit in a variety of vehicles and were able to get a secure installation.

Fit-to-vehicle belt: When we tested the seatbelt installation in a range of vehicles, the fit was excellent.

Crash protection: In CR’s crash test protocol, this seat received our “Best” rating for crash protection

About

The Cybex Cloud T is part of the Car Seats test program at Consumer Reports. In our lab tests, Infant Car Seat models like the Cloud T 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

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.

Features & Specs

Features

Load leg

Yes

Flame-retardant-free options

Rotating seat

LATCH connections

Rigid

Harness height adjustment

External

Harness tension adjustment

Single Pull Front

Base recline level indicator type

Pendulum

Base recline level indicator position

Both Sides

Carrier recline level indicator type

Line

Carrier recline level indicator position

Both Sides

Adjustable base

Yes

Belt lockoff

Yes

Adjustable crotch strap

Handle restriction

Carrier use without base

Yes

Spanish language instructions

None

Specs

Weight range (lbs.)

4-30

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

Yes

Price & Shop

Cybex Cloud T

Price

Description

CR's 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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