Parents know a child car seat is one of the most important products they can buy. The seats help protect the tiniest cargo in an emergency. Click HERE for Consumer Reports’ car seat finder tool.

While all child seats have to meet federal safety requirements, our ratings are designed to highlight car seats that offer a greater margin of safety.

Consumer Reports put several brands to the test, and found significant problems with a couple of the car seats.

During its latest round of child car seat testing, Consumer Reports found two seats with concerning results: the Diono LiteClik30 XT infant child

car seat, and the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio 4-35 Urban Mobility baseless infant seat.

“While both these infant car seats meet federal safety standards and there are no reported incidents associated with them, both suffered significant structural integrity issues in CR’s most recent round of crash tests,” said Consumer Reports Auto Safety Editor Emily Thomas.

Consumer Reports’ tests are more rigorous than those required by the government, simulating the forces of a thirty-five mile per hour crash instead of 30 mph. Consumer Reports’ test also uses a real vehicle seat and front seat back to better replicate a real-world crash.

Consumer Reports’ tests for these child seats only simulate a car crash with one impact but, of course, in the real-world crashes can involve multiple impacts.

“If a car seat shows significant damage after one test impact like these did, that’s a major concern,” said Thomas.

Diono said it is committed to the safety of all child passengers and that it was thoroughly investigating the questions raised by CR’s testing.

Peg Perego said, additional tests conducted using CR’s protocol did not reveal any structural breakages or raise any concerns about the product’s integrity.

If you own one of these seats, you can contact the manufacturer although neither Diono or Peg Perego has issued a recall.

“Based on almost 1,000 individual car seat installations and nearly 130 crash tests, CR’s infant car seat ratings represent a comprehensive and rigorous program that allows us to make distinctions between the car seat models and clear recommendations,” says Michael Bloch, who oversees child seat testing at Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center. “They show the importance of buying based on test results rather than brand name or marketing slogan.”

The seats listed below did well in our crash tests and scored well for ease of use and in our fit-to-vehicle ratings, which improves the odds that you’ll install and use them correctly—because it’s not always intuitive.

Seats are evaluated for their crash protection on a scale of Basic, Better, and Best. See our comprehensive car seat buying guide for more information, plus a breakdown of other car seat types.

Or you can use our Car Seat Finder. Answer a few questions and we’ll provide options for car seats that fit your lifestyle, vehicle(s), and budget.

If you’re looking for an infant seat that earns Consumer Reports’ top safety scores, consider this Clek Liing with a “load leg’’ support that extends from a car seat’s base to the vehicle’s floor for additional crash protection safety.

Consumer Reports also recommends the reasonably priced Chicco KeyFit which has top safety scores and is rated as one of the easiest seats to install.

Click HERE to visit Consumer Reports’ Car Seat web page with ratings on dozens of different car seats. To help you make the best and safest choice, you can click HERE to use Consumer Reports’ child’s car seat finder tool.

When Do Babies Outgrow an Infant Car Seat?

A rear-facing-only infant car seat is a safe option for transporting your baby home from the hospital and for the first 6 months to a year. Based on our testing, CR recommends switching from an infant seat to a rear-facing convertible or all-in-one no later than the child’s first birthday.

What’s a ‘Load Leg,’ and How Does It Affect Car Seat Safety?

CR’s infant car seat ratings include 14 load-leg infant seats, meaning a “leg” extends from the seat’s base to the floor of the vehicle. Load legs make the seat more stable, help integrate the car seat into the vehicle during a crash, and reduce the amount of impact a baby would experience.

Load-leg seats are becoming increasingly common in the U.S., but our tests reveal that not all designs are created equal. In general, there is an advantage to having a car seat with a load leg in a crash. But depending on the car seat’s overall design, our tests show that there may still be cases where the baby’s head can come into contact with the back of a front seat, increasing the risk of injury.

That impact against the simulated front seatback in our tests takes away points from the seat’s crash protection score. And some load-leg seats are easier to use than others, which can also affect the car seat’s fit-to-vehicle and ease-of-use scores.

How to Install a Car Seat

Child seats have come a long way over the years, but proper installation is key. On the “Consumer 101″ TV show, Consumer Reports expert Jennifer Stockburger showed host Jack Rico what to do to keep little ones safe in a car.