23 New Booster Seats Earn Best, Good Ratings From IIHS

CARS.COM — If you have a young child, choosing the right booster seat for safe travel can seem like a daunting task. Booster car seats are available from several manufacturers and they have varying features, which can make it difficult to determine which one is best for your child. Keeping your kid safe during travel is vital and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has stepped up to help parents make the right child-safety seat decisions. It seems that car seat manufacturers are paying attention to the IIHS’ yearly booster seat evaluations. For the first time, all the new booster seats for small children tested earned the top ratings. 

Related: Car Seat Checks

IIHS tested 23 new booster seat models for 2015; of the 23, 20 booster car seats earned the top rating of best bet and three were evaluated as good bets. No booster seats were given the check fit, which alerts parents to try the seat with their child before they buy it, or not recommended ratings this year. This shows that car seat manufacturers are taking note of what IIHS is looking for in booster car seats.  

“Our ratings have succeeded in getting child seat manufacturers to prioritize belt fit when they design boosters,” said Jessica Jermakian, IIHS senior research scientist. “The large number of best bets on the market now makes it easier for parents to shop for a seat that will work for their child in virtually any vehicle.”

Booster seats are used by kids ages 4 and older who no longer fit in a forward-facing car seat or rear-facing car seat or who have exceeded the seat’s weight limit. All seat belts are made for adults, so a booster car seat raises a child, making the lap belt sit flat on a child’s upper thighs and the shoulder belt snug over the child’s shoulder across their chest. Without a booster seat, children do not fit properly in vehicle seats and belt positioning is not appropriate to ensure safety. 

To earn a best bet nod, a booster seat must correctly position a seat belt on an average-size 4- to 8-year-old child in most cars, SUVs or minivans. Booster car seats with a good bet rating provide adequate fit in most vehicles.

This year’s list of IIHS-rated booster seats covers a wide price range, running as low as $13 for the Little Tikes Backless Booster to as high as $170 for the Evenflo Platinum Evolve, a 3-in-1 car seat, or the Safety 1st Grow and Go car seat, which can be used in both rear- and forward-facing mode as well as a booster.

The 2015 booster seat evaluations join previous IIHS evaluations to total 82 best bets and eight good bets. Six boosters are not recommended and 31 land in the check fit category. See previous booster evaluations here.

The full list of 2015 evaluations is below. Dual-use booster seat ratings (those that can be used in high-back or backless modes) vary for each position.

Best Bet

• BubbleBum Seat (backless) 
• Chicco KidFit Seat (backless mode)
• Chicco KidFit Seat (high-back mode)
• Diono Cambria Car Seat (backless mode)
• Diono Cambria (high-back mode)
• Eddie Bauer Storage Booster (backless) 
• Evenflo Advanced Transitions Car Seat (backless mode)
• Evenflo Advanced Transitions Car Seat (high-back mode)
• Evenflo Platinum Evolve Seat (backless mode)
• Evenflo Platinum Evolve Seat (high-back mode)
• Graco Atlas 65 (high back)
• Graco Tranzitions (backless mode)
• Graco Tranzitions (high-back mode)
• Harmony Defender 360 Seat (backless mode)
• Harmony Defender 360 (high-back mode)
• JanÇ Montecarlo R1 Car Seat (high-back)
• Lil Fan Box Seat (backless)
• Little Tikes Highback Booster (backless mode)
• Little Tikes Highback Booster (high-back mode)
• Little Tikes Backless Booster (backless)

Good Bet

• Cybex Solution M-Fix Car Seat (high back)
• Cybex Solution Q2-Fix Car Seat (high back)
• Safety 1st Grow and Go Seat (high back)

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