Evenflo Shyft Dualride

The Shyft DualRide conveniently combines a car seat and stroller, but comes at a steep price. It allows for stroller use, a base installation and detachable infant carrier. Overall, it’s easy to get a secure lower anchor or seat belt installation with this seat. With time, the lack of labeling for the various levers and adjustments could be overcome but for first time users, it’s sure to bring frustration. Also, in order to detach the carrier from the stroller, the carrier and stroller must first be installed on the car seat base. To detach the stroller frame from the base, the carrier must be installed. If you’re ever without one of the three parts, the system’s flexibility and convenience could be impaired. While carrier weight alone is typical of its peers, when combined with the stroller, the Shyft is on the heavier side.
 

Consumer Reports has developed a new crash test that offers consumers comparative performance information on which car seats could provide an additional margin of safety when compared with other models within the same ratings group that have been subjected to the same test protocol. Our Crash Protection Ratings are based on injury criteria measured on standardized child-size dummies, contact of the dummy’s head with the back of a simulated front seat and a car seat’s ability to remain intact during the course of testing. Consumer Reports’ new crash tests are not designed to check whether a seat complies with current federal car seat safety standards. Rather, the purpose of our new tests is to differentiate the seats’ performance on a scale that ranks the performance of tested seats ranging from “basic” to “best.” Our focus on providing an “extra margin” of safety, rather than on determining whether a seat is safe or not, is based on the fact that any car seat sold in the U.S. already must provide an essential level of safety under the government standards. The new test conditions were carefully designed to simulate the interior environment and forces encountered during a crash in contemporary vehicles. Changes from the way that convertible seats were rated previously include using a test bench that better simulates the vehicle seat design from a contemporary vehicle, with more representative cushion stiffness and seat geometry and incorporation of a “blocker” to simulate a front seatback. The new test also runs at a higher 35mph speed, with other representative dynamic characteristics that better simulate the behavior of contemporary vehicles during a crash.

The Evenflo Shyft Dualride is part of the Car Seats test program at Consumer Reports. In our lab tests, Infant Car Seats models like the Shyft Dualride 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.