Baby Seats and Cars for Babies

When considering the best baby seats and cars for babies, some aspects are fairly common sense, while other aspects of vehicles safety for babies and small children require some research and comparison. Here are a few facts on some of the highest safety rated vehicles for babies that require a car seat.

Best Big Vehicles
For infant car safety, larger SUVs still offer the most protection. However, some large SUVs are more car seat friendly than others. For example, the Chevrolet Suburban is often praised for quick, safe and easy installation of car seats. This is because of its roomy seating area and the durable but easy to use seatbelts.

Other large SUVs noted for car seat safety are the Toyota Highlander and the Buick Enclave.

The Best Family Sedans
When it comes to four-door family sedans, there are many excellent choices for baby safe vehicles that offer easy and safe installation of baby car seats. If you're looking for a high-end sedan, the Audi Q5 is one of the highest rated family sedans on the market. In fact, many parenting advocate groups have chosen this vehicle as the safest sedan for baby car seats because of its high-strength seatbelts and excellent latch connectors.

Other popular baby-safe vehicles in this classification would almost all sedans made by Volvo as well as popular sedans such as the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. All of these vehicles have received above average or excellent safety ratings for car seat installation and crash test survivability.

The Best Minivans and Smaller SUVs
Because of their larger size and roomy seating area, minivans are also an excellent option for baby safe vehicles. Popular minivans such as the Toyota Sienna, Honda Odyssey and Mazda MPV have all received very high safety ratings in both crash tests and infant survivability when used with an approved car seat.

If you're looking for a smaller SUV, the same manufacturers rise to the top. For example, the Toyota RAV4 is often considered one of the most child seat friendly vehicles on the road. Furthermore, the vehicle scores well in head-on and side impact test and crash survivability.

Other smaller SUVs that have received praise for child seat installation and safety are the Honda CR-V, Saturn VUE and Hyundai Santa Fe.

Other Safe Vehicles Considerations
When looking for safe vehicles than can be used safely with a car seat, it is wise to visit a local dealer and take your car seat with you to ensure it installs easily and fits well. Using this technique, along with comparing other safety ratings and reviews, will help you find the best vehicle for protecting your baby.

Cars with the Best Infant Car Safety Ratings

Buying a vehicle today involves many more decisions than ever before (including child car safety), and can be quite overwhelming. There are choices to be made on size, make, model and color, and those are just the basics. One of the highest priorities consumers have is the child car safety rating for each vehicle.

• Hyundai. Hyundai has several types of cars that meet car safety standards for infants. These include the Hyundai Accent, Hyundai Sonata, Hyundai Elantra, Hyundai Azera, Hyundai Veracruz, Hyundai Genesis and Hyundai Tucson. Each of these vehicles has crash test ratings at the top of the rating scale for both the National Highway Transportation Safety Board (NHTSB) and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). These ratings are for both front and side impact, which is important when transporting an infant in a child safety seat
• Honda Insight. The Honda Insight is a four-door electric hybrid vehicle. Its safety features include four-wheel anti-lock brakes, a depowered airbag system, passenger and side airbags. The Honda Insight has a four star passenger and five star driver NHTSB safety ratings along with a five star side impact front and four star side impact rear NHTSB rating
• Acura. Acura was the first car in 2009 to receive a five star safety rating for front and rear safety from the IIHS for all of the models in its lines. This achievement speaks to Acura's commitment to building safe cars that can provide safety for your infant when riding as a passenger
• Ford Taurus. The Ford Taurus has a safety rating of five stars from both the NHTSA and IIHS. It features anti-lock brakes, stability control, front and side impact bags and overhead airbags. This makes the Ford Taurus one of the safest American made cars and puts it on par with the Hyundai models, Honda Insight and Acura models for protecting your infant

What to Look For in a Car for Child Passenger Safety

Child passenger safety is vital in a car. You want your children to be as safe as possible. That means taking the right precautions to keep them safe.

• Proper seating. The child safety seat needs to be the right size for your child. If it's too large, the child could come out in the event of an accident, and the same applies if the seat is too small. Never use a safety seat that's old and worn. Make sure the seat is secured in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. For infants and young babies, the seat should face backward. When your child has outgrown a child safety seat, use a booster seat until the child is at least 4-feet 9-inches or 12-years of age. After which, a regular seat belt is fine
• A LATCH System. Cars made after 2002 have what's known as the LATCH system, which is short for Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children. These have tethers on the seat to which car seats manufactured after 2002 can be directly attached. Unless both car and seat are equipped with LATCH, you should use the traditional belt system for child passenger safety

Your child should always be in the back seat and away from the air bags, which can damage a young body. Being in the back also offers a greater layer of protection from a front-end crash. Never drive unless everyone, including children and adults, are properly strapped in.