Car Seats

One of the best seats overall for balancing crash protection, ease-of-use and vehicle fit. 

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

One of the best seats overall for balancing crash protection, ease-of-use, and vehicle fit. The combination of this seat's rigid LATCH and load leg feature make this on of the top performers for crash in our tests.

The more feature-laden, though more expensive version of Maxi-Cosi’s Mico Luxe line of seats, the Mico Luxe +  is an excellent performer overall. The addition of a load leg on this seat makes it one of the better performers in our crash protection tests. Automatic retractors on the LATCH system ease LATCH installation.

The Graco Premier Snugride Snugfit 35 XT featuring Load Leg Technology truly excels in all areas. Graco has a similar product that shares the exact same name but lacks the load leg feature on the seat’s base. If better crash protection is what you’re looking for, be sure to purchase the model that says “featuring load leg technology”. The base’s tensioner feature makes for easier lower anchor and belt installations. 
 

One of the best seats overall for balancing crash protection, ease-of-use, and vehicle fit.

Recline adjustments are based on the child's weight rather than following a recline indicator which may be more intuitive for parents but lacks the ‘check’ of a recline indicator to show if the recline position is appropriate. The addition of a load leg on this seat makes it one of the better performers in our crash protection tests. The Pipa Aire RX’s price may be a deterrent for some, but at least it has performance that may warrant the price. 

The Cloud G Lux is a top performer all-around. It features rigid LATCH and a load leg which improves its crash performance, as well as making lower anchor installations easier. The seat also has a recline feature when using the infant carrier out of the vehicle. 
 

The Graco Premier Snugride Snugfit 35 XT is like a competitive sibling that just falls short of Graco’s similar model featuring load leg technology. However, despite its lack of a load leg, it still performs favorably across all of our evaluations and at a slightly lower price. The base’s tensioner feature allows for easier lower anchor and belt installations. 
 

One of the easiest seats to install using either LATCH or the vehicle seat belt. This seat incorporates a belt tension device that helps provide a secure installation with little effort.
 

One of the easiest seats to install using either LATCH or the vehicle seat belt. This seat incorporates a belt tension device that helps provide a secure installation with little effort.
 

The Romer Juni is similar in design to the Britax Willow and Cypress infant seats. Key differences include the rigid LATCH connectors and the load leg found on the Juni. Testing has shown that load legs give child car seats improved safety in a car crash. The combination of this seat's rigid LATCH and load leg feature make the Romer Juni one of the top performers in our crash tests.

Rigid LATCH connectors make lower anchor installations much easier, but caregivers should note that with this car seat, you’re limited to vehicle seating positions with dedicated lower anchors — meaning that positioning this seat in the rear center won’t work for most vehicles.

The Juni comes with excellent labels and instructions and scores well for ease-of-use. Similar to the belt tensioning technology used on Britax car seats, the Romer Juni incorporates SecureLoc on the base to make belt tensioning easier. However, the SecureLoc requires extra care to thread correctly and is difficult to close if the belts are tensioned too much.

The Joie Mint Latch is a carrier-only, baseless infant seat that may best serve the needs of those who frequently use cabs or ride shares, or who find it more convenient not to have a car seat base installed in the back seat, in order to accommodate additional passengers. The Mint Latch is lightweight at 9 pounds, making it easy to carry. Rigid LATCH connectors make lower anchor installations much easier, but caregivers should note that with this car seat, you’re limited to vehicle seating positions with dedicated lower anchors — meaning that positioning this seat in the rear center won’t work for most vehicles. The Joie Mint Latch offers a convenient lower anchor connector design that rotates the connectors out of the way for carrying, and you only need to rotate one side of the connectors for both sides to be adjusted. This seat allows you to position the carrier handle in any locked position for travel, but Joie recommends the fully-upright handle carry position while you’re on the road.

One of the easiest seats to securely install using either LATCH or the vehicle belt.

The UPPAbaby Aria is an infant seat with a very lightweight carrier and a load leg on the base. Similar to UPPAbaby’s other infant seats, the Aria has lots of indicators to inform users if they are installing it correctly, including tightness, recline, and load leg indicators. This infant car seat also features DualTech soft goods, which are flame-retardant free fabrics and foams. The Aria has clear labels and instructions and scored excellent lower anchor installations in our evaluations.

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.
 

A carrier-only seat that may best serve the needs of those who don’t have their own car but are frequently using other modes of transportation. 
 

The Peg Perego Primo Viaggio 4-35 Nido is a balanced performer overall. The addition of a load leg on this seat makes it one of the better performers in our crash protection tests.

The Peg Perego Primo Viaggio 4-35 Lounge is a balanced performer overall. The addition of a load leg on this seat makes it one of the better performers in our crash protection tests. The Peg Perego Primo Viaggio 4-35 Lounge includes a feature that allows the carrier to be reclined while used in a stroller. The carrier recline feature can not be used in a vehicle.