When it comes to car safety, you can focus on driving safely and you can focus on choosing a safe car. However, if you have children, you also need to focus on choosing a safe car seat. This is one of a series of reviews I’ll write on what I consider to be the best car seats currently available in the United States.

2014 Britax B-Safe – What’s the big deal?

The Britax B-Safe isn’t the kind of seat I’d typically review, given my preference for convertibles and combination seats, but functionality is what’s important, and in terms of functionality, this is one of the most impressive seats on the market. It’s an infant car seat, which means it can be used in one configuration: as a rear-facing infant seat. It does not forward face; for that, you’ll need a convertible. It’s one of the newest infant seats from Britax, and aims to improve child safety by increasing the odds parents have of correctly installing and using car seats from day one. Is it worth it? Read on to find out!

Britax B-Safe Limits for Weight and Height

Rear-facing: 4-30 pounds. Your child’s head should not reach past 1″ below the top of the main shell. There is also a 32″ height limit for the child. The shoulder height of the child while seated may range between 6.5″ and 11″.

Of course, as a parent invested in your child’s safety, you’re not going to stop at 30 lbs, since research into car safety indicates children should remain rear-facing for as long as possible (the average is 4 years in Sweden, which posts the lowest child fatality rate on Earth), and after rear-facing, the child should remain forward-facing as long as possible.

Buy the Britax B-Safe on Sale at Amazon here.

Dimensions of the Britax B-Safe

The seat is 17.5″ wide at its widest point and 24.5″ high when the handle is up. The seat weighs 9.8 pounds, which makes it one of the lightest seats I’ve reviewed so far. Of course, being an infant seat, it should be much lighter than a convertible or combination seat. The base weighs 6 pounds and is 15″ wide.

Using the Britax B-Safe

There are a number of fun parts to using the B-Safe; here are some that stood out to me rather quickly. First of all, there are four different settings for the harness height and you can adjust how deep the crotch strap sits.

As is typically the case with infant seats, the seat can be detached from its base and attached to Britax strollers, which makes it easy to transport your children while on the go. You can achieve a good install with either the seat belt or with lower LATCH anchors. Don’t use both, of course. The seat may be installed with or without the base. I like the base because it makes it a snap (literally) to install and remove the seat, which is crucial for getting a newborn or young infant out of a vehicle or into one without waking him or her. If you need extra bases, you can purchase them separately for installations in multiple vehicles. The base has a recline adjustment with 5 positions as well as indicators for the correct angle on both sides.

The thing I like most about the Britax B-Safe is that it is preemie friendly. There are a lot of seats that require a lot of hoops such as blanket rolling to make work with premature infants, and any mother who has purchased, bought, and returned several car seats to and from the NICU in effort to find a seat that makes a good fit knows how thankless of a task that is. However, the Britax B-Safe fits preemies easily, which is a blessing. A big part of why it will reliably fit 4 pound babies is because the lowest of the four harness slots is only 5.5″. Along with the Keyfit 30, this is a great choice for a preemie-friendly infant seat. Remember that not every infant seat actually makes a good fit when you try to use it at the lowest advertised weight, so this is important information.

The Britax B-Safe features a newborn insert to make fitting premature and smaller infants an easier affair. It is designed to be moved from the baby’s bottom to behind him or her to keep a good fit as the child grows. It can be used or removed at any weight or height under the condition that the child is seated securely in the seat with or without the insert. Finally, I’m also a fan of the fact that Britax made two positions for the crotch buckle; little touches like these make all the difference in comfort for small infants.

Buy the Britax B-Safe on Sale at Amazon here.

Why Buy the Britax B-Safe?

This is the part parents are most interested in. The Britax B-Safe is not designed to help you rear-face a child until the cows come home. What it does well is provide parents with a convenient and nearly fool-proof method of getting their child safely from the hospital and around for the first few months of life. After that, I’d recommend replacing it with a convertible seat with the highest RF limits you can find. In other words, look for these seats. Remember, every pound is precious, as the longer you rear-face, the safer your child is. In the US, parents tend to turn their children around into the line of fire at 1. In Sweden, this typically isn’t done until 4. Children in Sweden are far less likely to die in car crashes than children in the US. It makes that much of a difference.

If ERF is what’s most important, then you might wonder why I’d suggest a seat that doesn’t come anywhere close to the best ERF limits. That’s because infant seats aren’t designed to RF forever. They’re for convenience! A class A convertible like a Foonf weighs more than 30 pounds; add the 7 pounds of a newborn and there’s no way you’re going to take that seat and child anywhere if it’s all you have as a child seat.

In contrast, with a seat like the Britax B-Safe, you buy it packaged with a stroller, such as with the B-Safe Travel System, and use the seat and stroller to transport your child when walking, and move the seat with your newborn about without waking up your child. Later, as your child gains in weight, you’ll naturally stop using the infant seat and start using the stroller or a good baby carrier to transport him or her, and when s/he’s in the car, you’ll use a high quality convertible car seat, and then later a combination seat. That’s the easiest way to navigate the practicalities of weight, children, car seats, and transportation. Start with the infant seat and stroller, or infant seat and carrier, and transition to the stroller or carrier and convertible seat.

I recommend the Britax B-Safe wholeheartedly. You can buy the B-Safe in a range of colors here. You can buy the B-Safe packaged with a stroller here or buy a separate compatible regular stroller here or a compatible high end stroller here. Here’s an example of a great baby carrier that we use on a daily basis when walking with our kids. You can buy the B-Safe base separately here. And last but not least, Canadians can buy the B-Safe and additional bases here.

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If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.

2018 update: The Chicco NextFit (now renamed the NextFit iX Zip) has been out for several years now, and it continues to be an excellent choice for a convertible car seat for extended rear-facing and easy installations. There are seats that allow rear-facing to 45 and 50 pounds on the market, but most children will be able to make it to 4 in the NextFit Zip. Today we’ll take a closer look at its pros and cons to see if it’s still one of the best choices for an easy-to-install car seat that’ll rear-face most kids at least until 4.

Chicco NextFit Zip – What’s the big deal?

The Chicco Nextfit iX Zip is Chicco’s long-awaited entry into the convertible car seat field. In terms of functionality, this is one of the most impressive seats on the market from the makers of what might currently be the best rated infant car seat in the country, the Keyfit 30. It’s a convertible car seat, which means it can be used in two configurations, including as a rear-facing infant seat, and as a forward-facing seat. It’s one of the newest seats from Chicco, and aims to bring cohesion to their car seat line while enabling parents to rear-face their children longer. Is it worth it? Read on to find out!

Buy the Chicco NextFit Zip on Sale with Free Shipping at Amazon here.

Chicco NextFit Zip Limits for Weight and Height

Rear-facing: 5-40 pounds. Your child’s head should not reach past 1″ below the top of the headrest when it is raised to its highest setting. There is no given height limit for the child besides the 1″ rule. The lowest harness setting is 5.5″ if you use the provided newborn insert. I measure the shell height as around 26″ when the head rest is extended as far up as it will go. There are seats that extend higher, such as the Graco Size4Me and its clones, but 26″ is still quite good, and is even higher than the limit in the Dionos.

Forward-facing: 22-65 pounds, and under 50″ in height. Shoulder height can reach up to 17.5″, and the tips of your child’s ears need to be below the top end of the shell. Your child should be at least 1, and it’s recommended that s/he is at least 2. Of course, research into car safety indicates children should remain rear-facing for as long as possible (the average is 4 years in Sweden, which posts the lowest child fatality rate on Earth), and after rear-facing, the child should remain forward-facing as long as possible.

Dimensions of the Chicco NextFit Zip

The seat is 14.5″ wide at the base and weighs 25 pounds. It’s not the lightest seat on the market by a long shot, but it’s not bad for a convertible. The total width is roughly 19″, putting it on the wider end of modern convertibles, but it still works for 3 across setups as long as you don’t have a very narrow vehicle or other wide seats. You can check out all kinds of 3 across setups for a variety of vehicles here.

Using the Chicco NextFit Zip

Something I like about the Chicco Nextfit Zip is that it’s dead easy to install in a range of vehicles, whether large or small, rear- or forward-facing, and with seat belts and LATCH systems. When using a LATCH install, your child has to weigh between 5 and 40 pounds; if your child weighs between 40 and 65 pounds, you will need to use a seat belt install and also have a top tether strap set up. I prefer using the seat belt installation in pretty much every seat I install, as it means I don’t have to think about weight ranges, which is always an issue with LATCH systems, and it also means that it’s much easier for me to fit multiple car seats next to each other in smaller vehicles (e.g., trying to 3 across in a Honda Civic).

Chicco requires you to use a tether whenever you have a forward-facing installation if there is an available tether anchor. This, by the way, is best practices whenever you’re forward-facing with any car seat. If you don’t have top tethers available, though, then you aren’t considered to be misusing it. However, you should not use the tether when you are rear-facing the seat.

A seat belt install is rather straightforward; the lock-offs present are well designed. The seat doesn’t take up a lot of room when rear-facing, particularly if you aren’t using it for a newborn, where you would need the maximum recline angle to be set up.

Something I really like about the Nextfit is that it’s a convertible that works well with regular and even slightly smaller newborns. The infant insert does not have to be used for babies between 5 and 11 pounds in weight, but it is recommended that you do. However, if your baby fits fine without using the insert, then you don’t need it.

Buy the Chicco NextFit on Sale with Free Shipping at Amazon here.

Why Buy the Chicco NextFit Zip?

This is the meat and potatoes of this car seat. The  Chicco Nextfit Zip is one of several seats in the United States that allow you to rear-face a child for up to 40 pounds. This isn’t as good as it gets anymore, but it’s still decent. Every pound is precious, as the longer you rear-face, the safer your child is. In the US, parents tend to turn their children around into the line of fire at 1. In Sweden, this typically isn’t done until 4. Children in Sweden are far less likely to die in car crashes than children in the US. It makes that much of a difference. This alone is reason enough to buy the Nextfit Zip.

Other things I like about the Nextfit include the headwings that include EPS foam to increase levels of protection in side impact collisions. I’m also definitely a fan of the tall top harness height, as this will be helpful in keeping a number of children forward-facing for longer before they are transitioned into a booster (which I believe should be held off ideally until at least 5). The Nextfit also has an adjustable harness system that doesn’t require rethreading, which saves a lot of time when your child suddenly grows.

In terms of installation and use, I also like that there are 9 recline positions, as this makes it easy to find the right recline angle in just about any vehicle without needing to resort to things like pool noodles and towels. Similarly, I like how the seat is relatively compact when it’s rear-facing, as this helps it fit into smaller cars or in regular cars with taller parents who tend to push the front seats all the way back. This is also the single easiest convertible on the market to install, in my opinion, which makes it a pleasure to use in most vehicles.

The biggest strike against the NextFit Zip is the fact that there are seats that allow you to RF significantly longer by weight. It’s also a rather heavy and bulky seat, and the harness straps that are included cannot be removed or replaced. You also have to switch to using a seat belt installation if your child weighs more than 40 pounds, which might be a bother to parents who prefer the LATCH system.

However, if the ability to fit smaller newborns, practice ERF, and enjoy ease of installation are important to you, the NextFit Zip will give you what you’re looking for. Finally, I do like that the seat has an 8 year lifespan and is FAA approved for aircraft use.

I recommend the Chicco NextFit Zip. You can buy the Chicco NextFit iX Zip in a range of colors here.

If you find my information on best practices in car and car seat safety helpful, you can do your shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can shop here for Canadian purchases. Have a question or want to discuss best practices? Send me an email at carcrashdetective [at] gmail [dot] com.

Clek is one of my favorite car seat manufacturers to review. They’ve got two of the best convertible seats on the market right now in terms of rear-facing abilities, the Fllo and the Foonf, but they’re also doing great things in the booster years as well. This review has to do with their flagship high back booster, the Clek Oobr High Back Booster Car Seat with Recline and Rigid LATCH, and why you should give it a look. In short, it’s one of the best boosters on the market, both in terms of ergonomics and in its ability to keep just about any child boostered until s/he’s old enough to pass the 5-step test for seat belt readiness. Let’s dive into the details about what makes it a car seat worth buying once you hit the booster sage.

Clek Oobr – What’s the big deal?

The Clek Oobr continues a tradition of versatile, high weight and height car seats by Canadian car seat wonder Clek that makes this one of the most impressive booster seats on the market. It’s a dual mode booster car seat, which means it can be used in two configurations: as a high back booster and as a backless booster. For parents of booster-age children (which can include parents of middle-schoolers and pre-teens), the Clek Oobr is among the best boosters you can currently pick up.

Buy the Clek Oobr on Sale with Free Shipping at Amazon here.

Clek Oobr Limits for Weight and Height

High back booster: 33-100 pounds, and between 38 and 57″ in height.  The seated shoulder height of the child in terms of the belt guide can range between 14 and 21.” Your child should be at least 4 years old. Of course, research into car safety indicates children should remain rear-facing for as long as possible (the average is 4 years in Sweden, which posts the lowest child fatality rate on Earth), and after rear-facing, the child should either be forward-faced or switched into a booster seat once mature enough to sit in one correctly 100% of the time. The appropriate age range for this switch will vary from child to child, but should never be under 4.

Also note that using a tether is required when using the seat in harnessed mode if the child weighs more than 65 pounds, although Clek recommends it in every installation.

Backless booster: 40-100 pounds, and between 40 and 57″ in height. Your child should be at least 4 years old.  Remember that children should remain in booster seats until their seat belts fit them over the shoulder, across the chest, and flat on the upper thighs. This is known as the 5-step test for seat belt readiness, and children normally don’t pass it until they’re somewhere between 10 and 12, which means, yes, pre-teens and middle schoolers often need booster seats to be safe.

Dimensions of the Clek Oobr

The seat is 14″ wide at the front of the seat (though the width increases to 20 inches if you use the included cup holder). The seat weighs 20 pounds in high back mode and 10 pounds in the backless mode. The armrests are 9″ high and the inner width of the headrest is just under 8.” Practically speaking, it’s a narrow seat that you’re going to be able to install in just about any vehicle and make work in 3 across installations in even very small cars. Being a booster seat, you’re going to strap your child in with a seat belt, but  you’ll want to use the included LATCH anchors as a handy way of keeping the seat in place even when your child isn’t actively using the seat. Otherwise, the seat will turn into a projectile in a crash, and you don’t want that to happen.

Why Buy the Clek Oobr?

I’ve had the privilege of reviewing some pretty awesome car seats over the last few years, both as a parent and as a grizzly guy writing a car safety blog. I advocate rear-facing to the limits, forward-facing to the limits, and only then switching to boosters. I prefer convertible seats to infant seats and often combination seats to boosters, simply for efficiency. Dedicated boosters, in the end, are designed to do the same thing as combination seats in booster mode: to properly position seat belts on children who are old enough to sit in them. So if there are combination seats that do as good of a job as dedicated boosters, why would I review and even suggest a dedicated booster?

Rememeber that boosters can be as safe as harnessed seats from age 5 onward

First of all, dedicated boosters are just as safe as combination seats once children can sit in them safely. This will range from one child to the next, but most children in the US can do so reliably from around 6 or 7. In Sweden, which boasts the lowest rate of child fatalities on the planet, children are routinely placed in high-back boosters from age 4 or 5 and expected to sit properly in them. In other words, if your child is mature enough to use one, you can move straight from a convertible car seat (which you use to rear-face until at least 4 or 5) to a booster and skip the forward-facing phase.

My favorite reason is the recline function. With the Oobr, you can recline sleeping children safely in the high back booster mode as long as you have lower LATCH anchors in place. You’ll probably read about a lot of high back boosters that claim to have “recline” positions, but if I may misquote The Princess Bride, I don’t think the word means what these booster makers think it means. The vast majority of “reclining” boosters can’t be reclined in ways that sleeping children can use. Parents typically will recline these seats inappropriately because they misread the instructions, but this can lead to deadly consequences in the event of a collision. The Oobr, on the other hand, was created specifically in mind to make this possible, as long as you’re following the manual’s instructions. This alone is reason enough to buy the Oobr.

Buy the Clek Oobr on Sale with Free Shipping at Amazon here.

Besides that fact, the Oobr also includes a magnesium frame to keep the seat from flexing forward as much in the event of a crash. It also features EPP foam around the child’s head and body to increase levels of side impact protection and reduce stress and strain on the body during collisions. All of these are good things.

I also like that the Oobr is made more locally than a number of seats; it’s made in Mexico, which means less resources were shipped about to bring it here. And I also love how tall the Oobr is; this gives kids years of head support, which not only makes the seat more comfortable, but safer than most other boosters out there.

Finally, the Clek Oobr is also simply an easier seat to install than most, due to its very narrow width of 14 inches. That means it’s actually possible to install 3 across in a number of small vehicles. I also like the fact that it has a 9-year usable life (remember, car seats do expire eventually), although there are seats with longer lifespans (e.g., the newest Dionos).

The Clek Oobr is a rather unique car seat and, in my opinion, one of the best booster car seats currently available in the United States for children above the age of 4.  It’s likely to be the last seat your child needs before s/he is ready for a regular adult seat belt. You can buy the Clek Oobr in a range of colors here. Canadians can buy it here.

If you find my information on best practices in car and car seat safety helpful, you can buy my books here or do your shopping through this Amazon link. Canadians can shop here for Canadian purchases. Have a question or want to discuss best practices? Send me an email at carcrashdetective [at] gmail [dot] com.

When it comes to car safety, you can focus on driving safely and you can focus on choosing a safe car. However, if you have children, you also need to focus on choosing a safe car seat. This is one of a series of reviews I’ll write on what I consider to be the best car seats currently available in the United States.

2015 Britax Advocate G4 – What’s the big deal?

The Britax Advocate G4 sounds like the name of an SUV, but functionality is what’s important, and in terms of functionality, this is one of the most impressive seats on the market from one of the most established names in the field. It’s a convertible car seat, which means it can be used in multiple configurations, including as a rear-facing infant seat and a forward-facing seat. It’s one of the newest convertibles from Britax, and aims to bring cohesion to their car seat line while enabling parents to rear-face their children longer. Is it worth it? Read on to find out!

Buy the Britax Advocate G4 on Sale at Amazon here.

Britax Advocate G4 Limits for Weight and Height

Rear-facing: 5-40 pounds. Your child’s head should not reach past 1″ below the top of the main shell. Note that this is different from seats that use the rule against the headrest. There is no given height limit for the child besides the 1″ rule.

Forward-facing: 20-65 pounds, and under 49″ in height. Shoulder height can reach up to 16.75″, and the tips of your child’s ears need to be below the top end of the shell. Your child should be at least 1, and it’s recommended that s/he is at least 2. Of course, research into car safety indicates children should remain rear-facing for as long as possible (the average is 4 years in Sweden, which posts the lowest child fatality rate on Earth), and after rear-facing, the child should remain forward-facing as long as possible.

Dimensions of the Britax Advocate G4
The seat is 20.5″ wide at its widest point and 26″ high. The seat weighs 21.5 pounds, which makes it one of the lightest seats I’ve reviewed so far that allows 40 pounds of rear-facing goodness.



Using the Britax Advocate G4

Something I like about the Britax Advocate G4 is that it continues a longstanding Britax tradition of ease of installation and fit. Britax now includes something called a Click & Safe Snug Harness Indicator. What’s that? Well, it’s a fancy way for saying the seat tells you when the harness is tight enough! Pretty neat, right?

Essentially, you simply place your child in the seat and set up the harnesses the way you normally would, removing slack from his or her hips and also placing the harness properly on his or her shoulders. Once that’s all taken care of, the harness indicator will detect the tension placed on the harness and make a click you can hear once the harness is in a good range of tightness. Since most car seats in the United States are installed or used improperly, little things like this can make a big difference.

Buy the Britax Advocate G4 on Sale at Amazon here.

Why Buy the Britax Advocate G4?

This is the meat and potatoes of this car seat. The Britax Advocate G4 is one of several seats in the United States that allow you to rear-face a child for up to 40 pounds. This isn’t as good as it gets anymore, but it’s still decent. Every pound is precious, as the longer you rear-face, the safer your child is. In the US, parents tend to turn their children around into the line of fire at 1. In Sweden, this typically isn’t done until 4. Children in Sweden are far less likely to die in car crashes than children in the US. It makes that much of a difference. This alone is reason enough to buy the Advocate G4.

Besides that, I like that the Side Impact Cushion Technology, or SICT, that Britax has introduced to some of their high end seats, such as the Pinnacle, is present here in the Advocate G4. The idea behind the technology is that Britax filled the Advocate G4 with cushions on the side designed to absorb energy and reduce the impact of side crashes by up to 45% while steering these forces away from your child and as a bonus, keeping any adjacent passengers safe. I think that’s awesome, and if you’ve read this blog, you know I do a lot of force calculations. Anything that can help reduce them is good in my books.

Something else that’s neat about the Advocate G4 is that it’s one of only a handful of seats in the United States that can currently be tethered while rear-facing as well as while forward-facing. It isn’t required to rear-face tether, but rear-facing tethering does have its advantages, which I’ll discuss in a forthcoming article. Keep in mind that if you’re in Canada, you’re required by Britax to use the included rear-facing tether at all times.

Let’s be honest: the Britax Advocate G4 is not going to win any awards for uber-long RF weight or height among its fellow convertibles. However, it’s designed to fill a niche, and in that respect, it does so well. It’s a great seat for parents needing to fit a convertible in smaller vehicles and it also works well if you don’t have a child with a long torso or who’s high in the height percentiles, yet still want him or her to rear-face until kindergarten.

The biggest strike against the Britax Advocate G4 is the fact that there are seats that allow you to RF significantly longer by weight. It is also a seat that tends to be outgrown by height more than I and a number of other parents would like. I also wish it had more than a 7-year product life. However, if portability and ease of installation are important to you, the Britax Advocate G4 will give you both while still helping you ERF. Finally, I do like that the shell can be recycled.

I recommend the Britax Advocate G4 wholeheartedly. You can buy the Britax Advocate G4 in a range of colors here. Canadians can buy it here.

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If you find the information on car safety, recommended car seats, and car seat reviews on this car seat blog helpful, you can shop through this Amazon link for any purchases, car seat-related or not. Canadians can shop through this link for Canadian purchases.