Car safety is a serious subject, especially if you’re a parent. That’s why Consumer Reports has just updated its rear-facing infant car safety seat ratings.
What many may have missed from the update is the addition of certain features that may be widely popular in Europe, but completely new to Americans. According to the Consumer Reports, the feature is known as the load leg, and it’s used as a way to ensure the safety seat designed for infants is steady so that the child is 100 percent safe throughout the entire car ride.
The device works by supporting the base of the seat, keeping it connected to the vehicle floor in a steady fashion. By making the seat more stable, the load leg helps to keep the infant from rocking while in the seat.
When tested by Consumer Reports, the car seats fitted with the load leg were tested by Consumer Reports and researchers found that these systems performed much better than the same models without the load legs. As a matter of fact, the consumer watchdog group claims that the devices received its highest crash performance rating in a simulated 35-miles-per-hour crash test.
When footage showing the test involving the device fitted with the load leg side-by-side with the device without the feature, it’s clear that the feature makes the devices much safer.
But while the feature is clearly an asset parents should try to learn more about, safety advocates have pointed out that it adds yet another burden to parents who have a hard time assembling these seats and having them installed correctly.
Considering that so many seats fail to secure infants because the devices are not correctly installed, adding an extra feature may also make the installation process much more difficult for the parent. Nevertheless, parents should try to always put the safety of their loved ones first. Following the owner’s manual’s instructions carefully will help to ensure installation is secure.
For more on this new feature, follow this link or watch the video below.
