The Honda Ridgeline is a dark horse. It’s a non-US-branded large pickup sold in the United States, but it’s more domestic than most vehicles in the country, having been assembled in Lincoln, Alabama since 2008 (along with the Honda Odyssey and Pilot). It competes with other giant pickups like the Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra, Nissan Titan, Toyota Tundra, and Dodge Ram, and is more reliable than most of them with the notable exception of the Tundra. In other words, if you’re going to buy a pickup for reliability, this is one of the few worth considering.
Because the Ridgeline is reliable, safe, and a rather good value due to its smaller name recognition in comparison to the other big pickup trucks, it’s become surprisingly popular among rural families with young children. As a result, as I did with the Tundra, I took a look at the Ridgeline to see if it were as up to hauling 3 car seats across the back rows as it was to hauling bales of hay and blocks of concrete. The good news is that they were more than up to the task. Before getting into the details, however, let’s take a look at rear-facing, forward-facing, and other suggestions for keeping your kids safe in your Ridgeline.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s take a look at what worked and what didn’t. The fact of the matter is that with a vehicle as large as the Ridgeline, you typically aren’t going to have any issues with 3 across car seat installations in terms of width; your main challenges will have to do with front-to-back room, which depends on your cabin sizes. That said, this is likely to be the most thorough 3 across car seat guide for the Honda Ridgeline on the Internet, and I’ll keep adding to it over time.
Tips and Tricks: The second generation of the Honda Ridgeline is close to 79 inches wide and 210 inches long in all trim levels. What this means is that you’re going to be able to fit most anything in the second row as long as you have enough front-to-back space and are willing to use seat belts instead of LATCH for the installations.
Tips and Tricks: The initial generation of the Honda Ridgeline is close to 78 inches wide and roughly 207 inches long in all trim levels. As with the current generation Ridgeline, what this means is that you’re going to be able to fit most anything in the second row as long as you have enough front-to-back space and are willing to use seat belts instead of LATCH for the installations.
The Q7 is the best SUV you can buy for side impact protection today.
Side impact collisions are among the most dangerous kinds of collisions we ever face in a passenger-sized vehicle. In order to keep our loved ones safe if we’re ever unfortunate enough to be involved in a t-bone, it helps to have some of the latest technology on our side. To that end, I’ve spent the last several years compiling lists of vehicles in various classes with the best crash test performance in side impacts to help parents and families make better new and used buying decisions. Previous articles in this series are below:
How dangerous are side impact collisions compared to frontal or rear collisions?
To put it simply, side impact collisions are the collisions that are most likely to take your life or the life of a loved one, when compared with front-, and rear-end collisions. From doing the math in an earlier post on side impact collisions, we know that even though only around 1 out of every 5 collisions involve side impacts, they lead to 1 out of every 3 vehicle occupant deaths in multiple vehicle collisions. In comparison, basically 1 out of 2 collisions involve frontal impacts, which lead to around 1 out of every 2 multiple collision deaths. Even more dramatically, while more than 1 out of every 4 collisions are rear enders, they only result in around 1 out of every 12 multiple collision deaths.
Looking at the numbers shows us side impacts are the collisions most likely to be fatal, even though they’re the least common. Knowing this, it’s worth figuring out how to reduce our risks of dying from one.
How to keep from dying in a side impact collision – what options do we have?
Unfortunately, if you live in the United States, you live in a country that isn’t the most willing to make changes to make our roads safer for everyone. In the US, you can drink much, much more before you’re considered drunk than you would in many parts of Europe (where the driver death rates are lower). Similarly, you don’t really have restrictions on how big your vehicle can be, regardless of how little experience you have as a driver. This isn’t the case in a number of other countries. You also live in a country that turns a blind eye toward many speed limits and is vehemently opposed to traffic cameras, despite their prevalence in countries with lower crash death rates. And of course, you’re also in a country where it’s hard to travel long (or short) distances inexpensively without driving.
However, until we’re willing to make a number of necessary changes, if you’re invested in keeping your family safe from death in t-bone collisions, I’d recommend you:
1.) Avoid driving (e.g., by using public transportation or by cycling or walking…eventually this leads to a critical mass where everyone is safer).
2.) Limit driving (by the same measures above and by combining trips).
3.) Drive the most side-impact-resistant vehicles possible.
Ultimately, to truly bring an end to side impact collisions, as well as to all collisions, we’re going to need to be forced to invest in the first two measures. I’d consider self-driving or autonomous vehicles to be part of “avoiding driving,” even though those aren’t going to eliminate collisions completely until the vast majority of vehicles on the road are no longer being driven by humans (the critical mass argument).
However, unless you’re in a position to completely follow step 1, you’ll need to focus on 2 and 3. Step 2 isn’t always feasible either, so this post focuses on Step 3, and deals specifically with choosing the safest SUVs and crossovers available for side impact protection in the US in 2016. I realize 2016 is close to an end, but this is also means this is the best time of the year to get discounts on current year models if you’re interested in the latest technology. Fortunately, as you’ll see below, you don’t always need the newest vehicles to be as safe as currently possible. You just need to know who’s doing the best job.
This post focuses on SUVs and crossovers and the best ones to be in if you’re unfortunate enough to be in a side impact collision.
Calculating which SUVs are the safest for side impact collisions by structural integrity (crush distance)
I’ve written about the math behind these calculations in previous posts, such as in the relevant articles on surviving side impacts in cars, minivans, and SUVs and crossovers, so hop back to those articles to read about this in detail. The short version is that the IIHS runs a side impact test. It simulates a 3300 lb SUV crashing into the side of a vehicle at 31 mph, or 143.7KJ of kinetic energy. Every vehicle deforms somewhat at the B-pillar when absorbing such an impact, and there’s a subscore in the IIHS test known as the “structure and safety cage” looks into how close the B-pillar intrudes into the center of the driver’s seat during the collision. Less intrusion is better. Let’s see who has the least intrusion right now in the family car market.
I searched through the test scores of every SUV and crossover currently available in the US to make this best-of list. I’m defining SUVs and crossovers as any vehicle that’s not a car, pickup truck, minivan, or cargo van yet capable of transporting at least five individuals. To put it simply, these are the vehicles the IIHS classifies as small, mid-sized, or large SUVs. I also made the lower threshold for inclusion in the list 23 cm of intrusion resistance, which knocked out a lot of vehicles that were present the last time I made this list. These are the best of the best.
Keep in mind that the IIHS continually updates their side impact information while gathering additional information, so in a few months, it’s likely that these numbers may be slightly different, and I’ll have another article to reflect those changes. All data is accurate as of late December 2016, and all images are either from yours truly or courtesy of Wikipedia.
The 7 safest SUVs and crossovers for side impact collisions in 2017
The current generation Audi Q7 is the safest SUV or crossover you can buy today in the US when it comes to side impact crash protection, based on its 27.5 cm of crush protection. As of this writing, no other SUV or crossover does a better job, and to be even more direct, no other vehicle does any better, out of all cars, minivans and SUVs currently on the market. In other words, when it comes to side impact protection, Audi sets the benchmark for every other vehicle to aspire to at this time. To put it in yet another way, if a Ford Escape (the best of the small SUVs for side impact resistance) crashed into you at 31 mph while you were driving a Q7 there’d be nearly a full foot of space between the center of your seat and the crushed B-pillar after the collision.
That’s impressive.
The new Q7 is also one of many Top Safety Pick+ choices on this list, which basically means that it features good scores in every crash test currently performed by the IIHS, as well as a good score in front crash prevention when equipped with optional equipment. Not every SUV on this list is sa TSP+, however, so shop carefully. 26 cm – 2016 Volvo XC90.
The current generation Volvo XC90 is hot on the heels of the Q7 with 26 cm of side impact protection, even though it also suffers from an only “acceptable” torso subscore within the overall side impact score. However, structurally, it’s a sound SUV, and I look forward to seeing how it performs in the ultimate measure of driver safety–the next set of driver death rate results a few years from now.
It’s worth noting that the previous generation of the XC90 in the 4WD trim (specifically the 2008-2011 model years) was one of the various vehicles to make the IIHS’ “zero list,” where no drivers were estimated to have lost their lives in a three year driving window. That generation of the XC90 tested at 9.5 cm of intrusion resistance.
My full 3 across car seat guide to the XC90 is available here.
Immediately after the XC90 comes the BMW X5 with a stellar intrusion-resistance score of 25 cm. Given BMW’s history of attention to safety, this isn’t surprising, but it’s still impressive.
The X5, however, is one of the SUVs on this list that is not a Top Safety Pick+, which is due to the fact that the only crash tests the IIHS has performed on it are the moderate overlap frontal test and the side impact test. The small overlap test, roof test, and head restraint tests are yet to be performed. The IIHS has yet to offer an explanation why.
My full 3 across car seat guide to the X5 is available here. 24 cm – 2016 Lexus RX.
The Lexus RX is one of only three vehicles on the list not hailing from a German automaker (the other two are the Volvos, which are Chinese-owned but Swedish-run), and it makes a strong showing with its intrusion score of 24 cm. The RX also stakes its claim as a Top Safety Pick+ and is easily going to be the most reliable vehicle on this list.
As was the case with the XC90 above, it’s worth noting that the previous generation of the RX in the 4WD trim (specifically the 2010-2011 model years) was one of the various vehicles to make the IIHS’ “zero list”, where no drivers were estimated to have lost their lives in a three year driving window. Six drivers were estimated to have died in the 2WD trim level. That generation of the RX tested at 17.5 cm of intrusion resistance.
My full 3 across car seat guide to the RX is available here.
Hot on the heels of the X5 is the GLK crossover by MB with a highly impressive intrusion score of 24 cm, equaling that of Mercedes-Benz’s E-Class sedan. Given MB’s history of developing safe vehicles, this isn’t much of a surprise. What’s more of a surprise is the fact that the GLK crossover design is at least 4 years old in this generation, meaning it has been providing an exceptional amount of safety for years that other vehicles are just beginning to approach, never mind exceed. I look forward to seeing the GLK show up on a driver death rate study; MB will need to sell more of them for it to make an appearance.
It’s also worth noting that the GLK is not a TSP+ due to the lack of a small overlap score.
My full 3 across car seat guide to the GLK is available here.
Audi makes their second appearance on the list with the Q5, which holds the impressive distinction of being the oldest model to make the top list with a design dating back to 2009. The 2015 edition was also updated with a reinforced front-end to result in a good small overlap score. I look forward to seeing the Q5 show up on a driver death rate study; Audi will need to sell more of them for it to make an appearance. However, given their position in the market as an alternative to MB and BMW, I doubt they’ll lose sleep wondering if they sell enough Q5s to show up in death rate studies, although the A4 and A6 pop up (and do very well) from time to time.
My full 3 across car seat guide to the Q5 is available here.
Volvo makes their second appearance on this list with the XC60. As with the Q5, I look forward to seeing the XC60 show up on a driver death rate study; Volvo will need to sell more of them for it to make an appearance. Given the appearance of the XC90 in the two most recent studies, I’m hopeful this means Volvo’s US car sales are on the upswing. Along with BMW, Mercedes, Subaru, and Audi, Volvo puts an awful lot of their research and development into safety technologies these days.
My full 3 across car seat guide to the XC60 is available here.
How to choose an SUV to keep you safe in side impact crashes
In conclusion, what does this all mean? Should you sell your current SUV and buy one of the above immediately? Is every other SUV on the road just not good enough?
Well, not exactly. There are a number of other great vehicles that I didn’t include on the list to save time that were literally only a centimeter or two away from appearing on the list. Ford, for example, came close with the Edge, its badge twin the Lincoln MKX, and the Explorer with 20, 20, and 19.5 cm respectively. The newly released Buick Envision clocked in at 21 cm, and the Cadillac XT5, an updated SRX, clocked in at 20 cm. There are plenty of other safe choices out there; I just focused on the very best-performing ones.
The takeaway message is that it’s worth looking beyond the overall “good” score and diving into the structural integrity subscore when searching for safe cars for this particular kind of crash. Of course, you’ll start with looking for airbags and the overall “good” score, but beyond that, if you’re choosing between two vehicles that seem good on paper, dive into this subscore and you might be surprised at what you find. And remember that just because a car isn’t anywhere near the top numbers on this list doesn’t mean it’s not safe.
Keep in mind, too, that two of the vehicles on this list, the XC90 and the RX, had previous generations that made the IIHS’ “zero list” with lower levels of side impact intrusion protection. The XC90, in particular, had 9.5 cm when tested, a figure that wouldn’t put it anywhere near the leading vehicles in the list above. Yet no drivers were reported to have died while driving one during the observed years.
We can’t control everything. The safest option is still not driving at all, followed by driving as little as possible. But if you’ve got to drive, drive safely, and do your best to choose a safe vehicle. To that end, my safe family vehicle analyses for cars and SUVs are worth reading.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. It’s exciting to see where we’re headed in vehicle safety these days. I’ll have followup articles soon comparing comparing car and SUV safety along the same metrics. Stay tuned, remember to avoid common mistakes parents make with car seats, and check out some 3 across car seat guides while you’re here.
Since the earliest days of this blog, I’ve written about how rear-facing is the safest orientation for children when traveling in passenger vehicles. Unfortunately, the laws in most states throughout the US are far behind best practice. In Sweden and Norway, the standard is to rear face until 4, and both countries enjoy the lowest rates of child traffic fatalities on the globe. In the US, in contrast, most states only require children to rear-face until 1. However, little by little, we’re making steps toward better practice around the country, and as of 2017, there are now 4 states that require children to rear-face until at least 2 years of age: New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and now California. This is great news!
Wait…why is rear-facing a big deal? What’s wrong with forward-facing at 1?
As a reminder, here are a series of articles on the importance of rear-facing and the safety benefits it brings children:
But if rear-facing until 4 or more is so important, why the celebration of states moving from 1 to 2?
Of course, rear-facing until 2 still isn’t nearly as good as rear-facing until 3, which is still not quite as good as rear-facing until 4, but progress often comes in small steps, especially in a nation with so many different people and ways of thought. If you’re reading this blog, you already know how important it is to rear-face for as long as possible, but the majority of parents in the United States or Canada aren’t reading this blog, and have no idea about why they might possibly want to keep their children facing backwards a minute longer than they’re legally required to. These are the folks who will be helped by these laws–as well as their children, of course. Because even if they don’t rear-face past 2, they’ll still have increased the safety of their children for another critical year, and given how much safer it is to rear-face than it is to forward-face, every year counts.
Bravo California! Bravo Oklahoma! Bravo New Jersey, and Bravo Pennsylvania! I look forward to reporting on more states’ steps toward better, if not best, practices around the country.
Which seats can I use to rear-face until 4? Most seats I see seem too small!
These are the five best car seats available today in the United States when it comes to extended rear-facing. Any of these seats will allow you to rear-face just about any child from birth until age 5, and any of these seats will also allow you to forward your face afterward for some amount of time.
The Graco Extend2Fit is the best value for your money if you’re purely interested in rear-facing for the longest amount of time, as it features the highest effective height limit when rear-facing. The Dionos are the best value for the money if you’re looking to maximize the time you spend between buying car seats, as both offer longer forward-facing usable times than the Clek seats, and also include booster modes, even though those modes aren’t going to be useful for some kids. The advantage of the Clek seats is that they’re as narrow as convertible car seats get, which means it’s possible to fit them 3 across in just about any vehicle.
Remember to pick up the infant insert as well if you’re buying one of the Cleks and want to use them from the day you leave the hospital, otherwise you’ll need to wait until your child has head control and can sit up independently. Similarly, if you’re buying one of the Dionos, make sure to pick up an angle adjuster so you’ll have a reasonable amount of room when driving or sitting as a passenger in the front row of your vehicle.
The 40 pound convertible seat market is packed, but these seats stand out time and time again. They all have astronomically high seat backs, which means that your children are all but guaranteed to reach the 40 pound weight limit before they need to be forward-faced. Of the seats, the Advocate offers the best side impact protection, while I think the Boulevard or NextFit are the best value.
3 Great Extended Rear Facing Seats on a Budget (i.e., at or under $150)
When it comes to absolute value for rear-facing, you can’t get any better than the Graco clones, including the MySize 65 (which is almost exactly the same seat as the Head Wise 65), the Size4Me 65, and the Contender. In fact, these are my three favorite convertibles, bar none, under $150. I have all three seats installed in family vehicles right now, and between the three, the main differences are that the MySize 65 has more side impact protection and head support, while the Size4Me feels a bit bony in comparison due to the thinner fabrics used. The Contender only comes with one set of LATCH anchors and takes up a bit more space when rear-facing. As a result, I’d choose the MySize or Size4Me over the Contender if you can afford it. All three seats are great, however, and come with exactly the same height and weight limits.
Now that I know this is important, what’s next?
Please remember that you don’t need to wait for your state to legislate best or even better practices before you begin to put them into practice with your children, in your family, among your friends, and in your community. You can become an advocate for children’s safety and for the welfare of our youngest citizens. If you see a child unsafely restrained, say something! You could save a life, or at the very least, start a conversation or prompt a parent to think about what s/he’s doing a bit more carefully. Every action has the potential to make a long-lasting difference, and we never know where our influence ends.
The Buick Envision is a new (in the US, at least) luxury crossover sold by the Buick division of General Motors. It competes with foreign and domestic 5-passenger luxury SUVs like the Lincoln MKX, Lincoln MKC, Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class, Mercedes-Benz M-Class, Volvo XC60, BMW X3, Acura RDX, Lexus RX, Lexus NX, and Audi Q5 among families who don’t need a full time 3rd row but who are looking for safety, style, and high-end transportation.
When it comes to safety, the Envision delivers. It’s a Top Safety Pick+ by the IIHS for 2017, featuring good small overlap, moderate overlap, side, roof, head restraint, and frontal crash prevention scores, showing GM clearly did their homework when designing it.
Given its safe, sturdy, and stylish design, I became curious about which car seats would fit well across the back seat of the Envision. The good news was that you can definitely make 3 across work with several different seats; the bad news is that many of those seats cost a decent amount of money, since the back row is on the narrower end. So which seats worked and which seats didn’t? We’ll get to that in a second. First, let’s take a look at some best practice in car seat selection, orientation, and installation.
The safest configuration we know of when it comes to vehicle safety is rear-facing. I recommend rear-facing your children long past age 1, which is the legal requirement in most states, and going well into the preschool years (ideally until 4!), before forward-facing them in harnessed convertible or combination seats (ideally until 6, 7, or 8!). Once they outgrow their harnessed seats, it’s best to keep them restrained in high-back boosters until they’re physically and psychologically ready to use adult seat belt systems (which typically happens between 10 and 12). We want our little ones in the safest positions we know of for as long as possible to give them the greatest advantages in a collision.
Keeping these ideas in mind, I set to work to find which infant, convertible, combination, and booster seats would work best in 3 across combinations in the Envision. It’s my goal to make this list the most thorough on the Internet. If you find the list helpful when shopping for car seats, you can shop through my Amazon link below. I’ll add more seats as I test them over time.
The current and only generation of the Buick Envision is 184 inches long and a scant 71 inches wide. What this means is that you’ll be able to fit narrow seats in 3 across setups all day long, but you’ll struggle to fit some (many) of the wider seats unless you’re only aiming for one or two seats installed at a time.
Given the relatively narrow width of the Envision, you’ll definitely want to take advantage of the seat belt system instead of the LATCH anchors to make the most of your available space. And given the shorter length of the Envision, if you’re going with a Radian, you’ll definitely want to pick up the angle adjuster for each Radian you buy; they’ll give you several inches of front-row space back for both the driver and front-row passenger.
Santa’s looking for parents who’ve nicely rear-faced their <5 year-olds this year!
The holidays are my favorite time of the year, hands down. I love winter, sledding, spending time with my wife and kids, putting on the snow tires, and yes, gifting car seats to friends and family!
Yup. If you’re wondering what to do for your loved ones as we approach the holidays and Christmas gift-giving, my top recommendation would be a good car seat. I know, it sounds strange in a world full of tablets and big screen TVs. However, even though you might not think of car safety as the holidays approach, the truth is that car accidents are the number one killers of children between 1 and 13, and if there’s anything we can do to keep our children safe, as well as the children of our dear friends and extended family members safe, it’s worth doing. To me, that means being open to new car seats when necessary, and it means being aware of the mistakes we make too often with our car seat installations, especially with the miles so many families will put on their vehicles in the next few weeks.
The holidays are a time when we should be joyful and celebrating time with our loved ones. However, there are many families around the country who will sadly lose loved ones, including children, to preventable car accidents. Each year there are more stories, but the one that comes to mind was one from some years ago that took the life of an infant while her family drove home from a Christmas party on Christmas day. Her father reportedly fell asleep at the wheel and crossed the center line. However, every occupant in both vehicles survived, except for the 13-month old baby.
If there’s anything we can do to reduce the likelihood of our children being injured or worse this Christmas, we should do it, and do it gladly.
These are my favorite car seats currently on the market. I chose them based on how well they fit a range of children, how easy they are to safely and correctly install, and most importantly, how long they allow children to rear-face. Each of these seats will make a great holiday gift that will give the gift of safety whenever children are in cars for the next several years. In order to learn why these kinds of seats are important, be sure to read my guides to extended rear-facing, extended harnessing, and boostering.
Because I’ve spent years writing about car seats and child safety, I’m always up for scouring the safest seats on the market at all price points. Here are a range of the best convertible car seats, combination, infant, and booster seats that I find myself recommending repeatedly when parents ask me for safe and affordable car seats that fit in most vehicles. Check out my 3 across vehicle guides for additional suggestions for your particular vehicle.
I’ve included my personal evaluations of each seats, links to reviews I’ve written, and direct links to Amazon pages for when you’re ready to make a purchasing decision.
Good luck shopping and I wish you the safest of travels and family times as we approach the end of the year. Please remember to rear-face until 4 if possible, forward-face until 8 if possible, and booster until your child passes the 5 step test. It takes a bit of work to do so, but the rewards in keeping your kids safer for longer are worth it.
These are the five best car seats available today in the United States when it comes to extended rear-facing. Any of these seats will allow you to rear-face just about any child from birth until age 5, and any of these seats will also allow you to forward your face afterward for some amount of time.
The Graco Extend2Fit is the best value for your money if you’re purely interested in rear-facing for the longest amount of time, as it features the highest effective height limit when rear-facing. The Dionos are the best value for the money if you’re looking to maximize the time you spend between buying car seats, as both offer longer forward-facing usable times than the Clek seats, and also include booster modes, even though those modes aren’t going to be useful for some kids. The advantage of the Clek seats is that they’re as narrow as convertible car seats get, which means it’s possible to fit them 3 across in just about any vehicle.
Remember to pick up the infant insert as well if you’re buying one of the Cleks and want to use them from the day you leave the hospital, otherwise you’ll need to wait until your child has head control and can sit up independently. Similarly, if you’re buying one of the Dionos, make sure to pick up an angle adjuster so you’ll have a reasonable amount of room when driving or sitting as a passenger in the front row of your vehicle.
The 4 Best Convertible Seats for Rear-Facing to 40 pounds
The 40 pound convertible seat market is packed, but these seats stand out time and time again. They all have astronomically high seat backs, which means that your children are all but guaranteed to reach the 40 pound weight limit before they need to be forward-faced. Of the seats, the Advocate offers the best side impact protection, while I think the Boulevard or NextFit are the best value.
3 Great Convertible Seats on a Budget (i.e., at or under $150)
When it comes to absolute value for rear-facing, you can’t get any better than the Graco clones, including the MySize 65 (which is almost exactly the same seat as the Head Wise 65), the Size4Me 65, and the Contender. In fact, these are my three favorite convertibles, bar none, under $150. I have all three seats installed in family vehicles right now, and between the three, the main differences are that the MySize 65 has more side impact protection and head support, while the Size4Me feels a bit bony in comparison due to the thinner fabrics used. The Contender only comes with one set of LATCH anchors and takes up a bit more space when rear-facing. As a result, I’d choose the MySize or Size4Me over the Contender if you can afford it. All three seats are great, however, and come with exactly the same height and weight limits.
3 of the Best Infant Seats that Rear-Face to 35 pounds
When it comes to infant seats, I’m looking for ease of installation and ease of use, and these three seats are the best in the market when it comes to both of those factors, as well as when it comes to stroller compatibility in the case of the UPPAbaby MESA. Of the three seats, my favorite is the MESA, but all three are solid choices and are among the best in the market in rear-facing weight limits for infant seats.
The 2 Top Infant Seats on a Budget (i.e., under $200)
If you’re interested in infant seats below $200, Chicco and Graco are doing excellent jobs with the KeyFit 30 and the Click Connect 40. The KeyFit 30 is very user friendly and compatible with a range of strollers, including the Bravo, while the Click Connect 40 will allow many children to rear-face well past 1 without needing to switch seats due to its additional height.
Personally, I’m a fan of just starting out with a great convertible so you don’t have to switch later on in order to keep rear-facing, so if I had $200 and a baby on the way, I’d go with either the Head Size 70, Size4Me, or Contender and skip the infant seat stage. However, if that’s not an option or if you need to be able to transport your infant in and out of a vehicle without waking him or her, then these are two great infant seats that won’t break the bank.
The 2 Top Combination / Booster Seats that Forward-Face to 90 pounds and Booster to 120 pounds
The Frontier and the Pinnacle are combination seats, which means they can both be used as forward-facing harnessed seats and as booster seats. Often seats that do one thing well do something else poorly. However, in this case, you’re looking at the two best forward-facing seats and the two best booster seats available in the United States as of this writing. I think that’s pretty cool.
There isn’t another car seat that does either of these jobs (forward-facing or boostering) better than these two seats. I love the Frontier and Pinnacle because if you buy either, it’s pretty much guaranteed to last your child until s/he no longer needs a car seat any more (i.e., when s/he can pass the 5-step test). That’s pretty awesome in my books.
Best3 Booster Seats with More than 20″ of Shoulder Height
Although the Frontier and Pinnacle are my favorite boosters, if you’re not able to pick either of them up or are on a shorter budget, then your best best will involve the Oobr, RodiFix, and CruisterFix pro. Of these, the Oobr is my favorite; it has a long history of quality and is a solid choice for belt positioning and keeping kids safe until they’re old enough to use the adult seat belt.
35,000 Americans will die this year on the road. You don't have to be one of them. A car seat and car safety blog to promote best practices for families.
2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Honda Ridgeline
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Honda Ridgeline
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.
25 cm – 
23 cm – 
2016, 2017, 2018 Buick Envision
