isofix extender bar

What is the safest convertible car seat?

The little mini-universe of car seats has so many absurdities and contradictions and even some outright lies. Especially in the US. The standard line you will hear from US car seat “experts” (certified car seat techs) is one of those lies. That is, “all car seats are equally safe because they all pass the government’s pass/fail safety test”. That's a crazy statement. We can all be above 5′0″ and not all be equally tall. Duh. Plus, the “government’s” safety test is actually self-performed (by manufacturers); it only measures frontal impacts at up to 30mph (ignoring rear and side impacts and greater speeds); and manufacturers are not even required to make their results public. All they have to do is just privately affirm that their seats passed the test! Another troubling thing about the US car seat market is their (undisputed) chemical toxicity. Car seats are required to be flame retardant, so almost all of them are sprayed with toxic chemicals. A whole laundry list of chemicals that are known carcinogens, neurotoxins, and hormone disrupters have been isolated in the upholstery and foam of car seats across the US market. These chemicals are known to leach right off the seat, especially when left in hot cars. Worst of all- there is no real guidance for parents who want to know which seat is safest. There are NO reputable ranked independent crash tests done in the US besides Consumer Reports. And CR only does frontal testing. They basically just replicate the “government’s” test (using slightly more modern equipment). And they fail to consider the question of chemical toxicity at all. I had to push really hard, and do some pretty deep research, to answer this question for myself. In the end I realized that I could and should go outside the US market. I'll tell you exactly the seat I purchased, and why. Some of what I learned was pretty shocking. A car seat should have as many points of attachment to the car as possible. This obviously keeps the child safer in an accident - since forces are reduced. In Europe, extended rearfacing convertible seats have up to 5 points of attachment. They attach by seatbelt or LATCH/ISOFIX (the little hooks inside the seat). They attach with a large stick called a load leg that supports the car seat from the floor. They attach with two extra seatbelts (tethers) that run from the front-seat sliders on the floor up to the car seat. And they attach with an antirebound bar that sits on the front of the backseat. US car seats have only 1 Point of attachment- the seatbelt or LATCH hooks where you clip the seat in. (NOTE: A couple of US seats have 2 points - but unfortunately the extra point that they chose (the antirebound bar) is the least helpful of all. Tethers and load legs do much more to secure the baby than antirebound bars). Anyway- most US seats use only 1 point. That makes our car seats much less safe than European ones. The reason? Because the US decided that additional attachment points would simply be an extra thing for parents to screw up on installation. (To be fair, parents do screw up installation a LOT). US standards and limits for chemical toxicity allowed in the foams and upholstery are- to say the least - sorely outdated. The rules on this are light-duty, poorly defined, heavily influenced by corporate interests, and poorly implemented in practice. One of the reasons government regulations are important (Trump voters, I’m looking at you!) is because they force manufacturers to produce car seats that don't chemically poison children. The EU standards and limits on toxicity are much better and more transparent. If you buy European, you don't have to worry about the poisonous aspect. Government crash testing in the EU is better; it considers rear impacts as well as front impacts (although not side impacts) and is done at higher speeds. It is also required in the EU that manufacturers make their results public. There are four or five repubtable independent ranked crash testing organizations in Europe that make their results public. The best one, the Swedish Plus Test, considers side impacts and is arguably the strictest test in the world. Only a handful of seats have ever passed it. The more you look, the more reasons there are to buy an EU seat (and in particular, one that's passed the Plus Test). The one I chose for my baby is the BeSafe Izi Plus. It's a Finnish seat. The Izi Plus (or its sister seat, the Izi Kid, which shares the same shell model) is the test winner in all of the ranked independent EU crash tests. It passes the Swedish Plus test, of course. It allows rearfacing up to 55 pounds - better than any seat on the market in the US. Now, here are the reasons NOT to import a seat, and why they are wrong: it is technically illegal. US kids are supposed to use US seats. Even though US safety standards are lower. Personally I don't care about this, and will risk a ticket. (I'll never get one, since cops don't know the difference). Some people say it will invalidate your car insurance if you have an EU seat and get in an accident, because the child was not “properly restrained” in a US seat. This is BS. Your car insurance will cover you even if you weren't wearing a seatbelt at all. I confirmed with my insurance broker, who confirmed with the underwriter, that this is not a concern. Some people say that you can't attach the seat belt tethers from the carseat to the sliders on the floor in a US car because it will interfere with your airbag sensors. Again- not true. Airbag sensors are almost always under the seat cushion, not on the floor sliders. Double check with your car maker and you’ll see where the sensors are. So- don't tether to the front seats themselves, and there's no risk. Sliders are just metal tracks bolted to the floor of the car. They aren't 1000x more advanced in the US than in Europe. (Besides- there are a handful of poorly known car seats- one called the Combi Cocorro - that are legally sold in the US and use tethers. That's because US sliders are fine safety wise.) Whew!! Hope this helps!!