Booster Seat Brands and Links

Booster seat safety information

Toddler car seat/booster seats are not meant for newborns. If you need a seat for an infant under a year old, see our separate report on infant car seats, which double as carriers. Convertible car seats can be used for infants as well as older babies up to 40 to 80 pounds, depending on the seat. See our separate report on convertible car seats for more information.

Does your child need a booster seat? CarSeat.org offers a simple five-step test to find out, plus information on types of child safety seats, fit, features, recalls, free check sites and frequently asked questions.

High-back booster seats protect children better in a side crash than backless ones, according to a 2005 study by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Children in backless boosters were just as likely to be injured in a side crash as kids in seatbelts alone, but high-back boosters cut kids' injury risk by 70 percent. In 2010, crash tests at Britain's Which? magazine (similar to ConsumerReports.org) showed similar findings, and Which? declared backless boosters a "safety risk" and called up on the British government to outlaw them. Government and safety experts in the U.S. continue to recommend backless seats, however.

Seven out of 10 child car seats are "either the wrong size for the child or seriously misused," according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, so it's a smart idea to have your seat checked by professionals. Many fire and police stations offer free inspections; hospitals and some Babies "R" Us stores also provide free checks. You can search for a location in your area at the NHTSA website.

How well will that booster seat fit in your car -- and what if you need to squeeze in two or more booster seats? CarSeatData.org publishes a chart that shows which seats fit best in specific makes and models of cars. Cars.com and MotherProof.com have also started testing vehicles to see how well -- and how many -- infant, convertible and booster seats fit.

Car-Safety.org offers detailed information and pictures of LATCH and tether use with car seats.

Booster seat recalls and investigations

You can search for recall information on a particular booster seat at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website. http://www.nhtsa.gov

Nearly 14,000 Evenflo Maestro booster seats manufactured between Nov. 24, 2009, and April 9, 2010, have been recalled because they may crack in a crash. In fact, some of these seats did crack and cause the harness to loosen in a ConsumerReports.org crash test, prompting the recall. The cracks occurred when the seats were used with their built-in harnesses; there were no problems when the seats were used with the vehicle's seatbelt. Evenflo will send owners a reinforcement plate and repair instructions for free, which ConsumerReports.org says fixed the problem in a retest. Newer Maestro boosters are not affected.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), decided to recall Dorel Juvenile Group car seats, including Cosco, Maxi-Cosi, and Safety 1^st brands -- manufactured from May 1, 2008 through April 30, 2009. This comes after Chicago father Bryan Dussault found that the harnesses would spontaneously loosen on three Vantage seats -- two that he owned, and one that Safety 1st sent him as a replacement after he complained. ConsumerReports.org says it crash-tested the Vantage and found no problems. In a video posted on both ConsumerReports.org and YouTube.com, Dussault demonstrates the problem with an Elmo doll strapped into the Vantage.

Booster seat brands

Booster-seat and car-seat brands' websites offer detailed specs, recall information and accessory lists for available models:

Britax

Clek

Cybex

Evenflo

Graco

Maxi-Cosi

Safety 1st

Sunshine Kids

The First Years