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Car Seats
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Best Car Seats

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

Safety 1st Ellaris

Harnessed Car Seats / Convertible Car Seats
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Ellaris
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Price

$99.99

67
Safety 1st Ellaris
PRICE $99.99
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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
3  /  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
4  /  5
Forward LATCH
4  /  5
Forward belt
5  /  5
Harnessed crash protection
BEST
Good small car fit
No

Pros

  • Excellent crash protection in CR’s rigorous crash testing
  • Harness can be adjusted without rethreading
  • Lightweight seat 
  • LATCH system use allowed up to 55 lb.
  • Seat cover is machine-washable and dryer-safe

Cons

  • No extra padding
  • LATCH connectors are hook-on only
  • No bubble recline indicators
  • Not a good fit for small cars, even though it’s listed as a “slim” design

CR's Take

The Safety 1st Ellaris convertible car seat is a very basic, reasonably priced car seat that's straightforward to use. Designed for use with children weighing between 5 lb. and 65 lb., it offers excellent crash protection and a great forward-facing fit in various vehicles in our test fleet. The Ellaris is lightweight, too, which can make it a good choice for families who need to move it often between cars or use it for travel. The Ellaris doesn’t have a lot of extra padding, which means fewer items to keep track of, but it also means it may not offer your little one a super-plush ride. Still, the Ellaris comes with a few nice features, like a no-rethread harness, long-term LATCH system use (though the LATCH connectors are hook-on only), and a machine-washable and dryer-safe seat cover.

This seat may be a good choice for: 

  • Families looking to switch from an infant car seat
  • Families who need to move their car seat between multiple cars
  • Families who are looking for a LATCH installation for long-term use
  • Families looking for a lightweight convertible car seat for travel

Detailed Test Results

Ease of use: The Safety 1st Ellaris is fairly easy to use, though it lacks some parent-friendly features, like a lock-off mechanism and push-on LATCH connectors. There are no bubble recline indicators, just a decal line that you’ll need to align parallel with the ground to find the proper recline for your child’s weight. The harness is easy to adjust, but it only has five height positions. And removing the seat cover for cleaning first requires removing the harness straps. Our experts noted that the LATCH and seatbelt installations were listed together in the manual, which can cause confusion among new parents installing a car seat for the first time. 

Fit-to-vehicle LATCH: The Ellaris offers a good fit when used with LATCH in the forward-facing position, but you’ll need to remove the seat cover at various points to properly thread the strap or pull the LATCH belt for a secure fit. In the rear-facing position, we had more difficulty getting a secure fit across our fleet of test vehicles with this car seat. 

Fit-to-vehicle Belt: We were able to get an excellent fit when using the seatbelt for installation in the forward-facing position, and a good fit in rear-facing position too. But the belt path is narrow in some orientations, which can make it difficult to thread and tighten the belt, especially if you have larger hands. 

Crash protection: In CR’s crash test protocol, the Safety 1st Ellaris performed very well and did not exhibit significant structural integrity issues.

About

The Safety 1st Ellaris is part of the Car Seats test program at Consumer Reports. In our lab tests, Harnessed Car Seat models like the Ellaris 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.

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