Best Infant Car Seats
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Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.
Rear-facing-only infant car seats are the first seat that most parents use when transporting their new bundles of joy, including that memorable trip home from the hospital. And as such, the new parents are least experienced in selecting a seat that offers the best margin of safety, in terms of crash protection, and has the potential for a secure fit in the family car.
Your babies are your most precious cargo. Even though all child seats provide protection in a vehicle crash, some do it better than others. Crash protection is important, but to gain the optimal benefit, the seat ought to be easy to use and fit your vehicle well.
Choosing one of our best performing models increases the potential for your child to be best protected and your odds of getting the seat installed safely and correctly.
Parents and caregivers should consult our infant seat test results on more than 30 models before buying. The scores reveal the importance of buying based on test results, rather than price or reputation.
The seats listed here have performed well in our crash tests, but they also score well for ease-of-use and fit-to-vehicle ratings, increasing your chances of installing and using them correctly.
Additional details on each model can be found on their individual model pages.
See our complete car seating buying guide.
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