We then wiggled the seats from side to side and front to back to ensure we followed the 1-inch rule (the seat should not move more than 1 inch in any direction). After completing the installation, we placed our children into the car seats and secured the harnesses, positioning the chest clips just below their armpits before tightening them to fit. We used the convertible car seats almost daily during the initial four-week testing period to determine ease of use, durability, and safety. We also cleaned each car seat according to the manufacturer’s recommendations when needed.
First of all, third-party car seat crash tests don’t actually give us meaningful data! Car seat manufacturers crash-test their products hundreds, even upwards of a thousand times. So one or two crash tests completed by another organization just can’t give the same level of information!
In her spare time, you’ll likely find her in the beautiful outdoors of Oklahoma with her husband and 3-year-old son. She tested the Graco Turn2Me and was blown away by the rotating seat, which made it effortless to get her preschooler in and out quickly and seamlessly. Dr. Hoffman says one of the frequent incompatibilities he sees with car seats is the unit interacting with the vehicle’s front seats. Your car seat’s manufacturer will let you know if the two seats can touch or if there must be space between them. For example, a 6’5” parent or caregiver will likely have the driver or passenger’s seat back for leg room, which affects where you position the car seat in the back.
The car seat’s slim, lightweight design is our favorite feature because it saves space in a vehicle or on a plane. The two-position recline is simple to achieve thanks to a gauge on the side of the seat. When installed correctly, the ball in the gauge sits in a green zone, so you can tell if the car seat is positioned correctly. We also appreciate the eight-position headrest that accommodates a growing child via the single push of a lever without rethreading.
So, a backless booster is appropriate if your child has maxed out their high-back booster’s height and weight limit but hasn’t passed this test yet. You can expect your child to remain in the booster until they are between 10 and 12 years old. I went into this review expecting to find that the NurtureMax is a very well priced seat with a lot to offer. Pull the seat cover around the shell of the car seat and attach it to the plastic clips. Make sure your buckles and harness straps are pulled through the seat pad. Wiggle the car seat from side to side to ensure that it’s installed securely.
If you’re going to move a car seat often, a lightweight option like the Safety 1st Grow and Go All-in-One Convertible Car Seat will work for you. This car seat weighs only 18.7 pounds—a big difference from the Britax Boulevard ClickTight’s 29.4-pound weight. Use the car seat in the rear-facing position for children from 5 to 40 pounds, forward-facing from 22 to 65 pounds, and as a belt-positioning evenflo car seat booster from 40 to 100 pounds. A five-position headrest and harness adjust in a single motion, and you don’t have to worry about rethreading the straps. While the car seat’s three-position recline is more upright than others we tested, our almost 2-year-old had no complaints about comfort. We also love the harness holders to keep straps out of the way as a child gets in or out.
It’s a solid rear- and forward-facing seat you can use with your child from 5 to 65 pounds. Installing the Graco convertible car seat is the biggest drawback we encountered. While it only took us 15 minutes to install, we had to pull hard on the strap to tighten the seat when using the LATCH system. I have, however, spent a LOT of time with the NurtureMax’s cousin, the LiteMax (it’s a staple of the injury prevention program at the hospital I work for) so I expected the NurtureMax to behave similarly. The interaction between base and carrier was challenging until I understood that this seat is just different and it’s a much-needed improvement over the Nurture. There’s a learning curve but once I got past it, the seat did what it needed to do — provide a solid harness fit and an extremely lightweight seat at a very reasonable price.
Additionally, there will be at least one more anchor, which can usually be found on the back of the vehicle seat in SUVs and minivans or the shelf below the back windshield of a sedan. Some vehicles also have anchors on the ceiling or the car floor behind the backseat. You can find out exactly where the anchors in your vehicle are located by looking at the owner’s manual.