Parents - Not Sure Which Car Seat to Use?
Are you looking for a new car seat for your infant, toddler or 4-8 year old child but overwhelmed by the choices and worried about how to properly install your car seat? Click the below image to see how car seat features differ among various models:
Use the New Five-Star Ease of Use Ratings
NHTSA now provides parents a new five-star ratings system that allows you to evaluate how easy certain car seat features are to use before you buy a seat.
Are All Seats Safe?
All car seats rated by NHTSA meet Federal Safety Standards & strict crash performance standards. While all rated seats are safe, they do differ in their ease of use in four basic catagories:
NHTSA Ease-of-Use 5-Star Ratings
NHTSA uses a five-star rating system to help consumers evaluate the four basic category ratings:
![5 Stars = Excellent features on this child restraint for this category.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090114140124im_/http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Images/5Stars.gif)
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= Excellent features on this child restraint for this category. |
![4 stars = Above average features on this child restraint for this category.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090114140124im_/http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Images/4Stars.gif)
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= Above average features on this child restraint for this category. |
![3 stars = Average features on this child restraint for this category.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090114140124im_/http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Images/3Stars.gif)
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= Average features on this child restraint for this category. |
![2 stars = Below average features on this child restraint for this category.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090114140124im_/http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Images/2Stars.gif)
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= Below average features on this child restraint for this category. |
![1 star = Poor features on this child restraint for this category.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090114140124im_/http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Images/1Star.gif)
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= Poor features on this child restraint for this category. |
N/A
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= Does not contain any features that require a rating. |
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