Swivel seats - are they really safe?

[jillianrose109]

I've been out of the car seat loop for a long time but I'm expecting my first grandchild soon and I want to buy her a ver safe seat. I know all car seats sold in the United States pass federal safety tests, but I have a gut feeling that these swivel/rotating seats (like the Orbit) are risky. In my mind, the more parts a seat has, the more likely something can go wrong? Also, I read that the Orbit was named as Do Not Buy from Consumer Reports a few years ago.

So what are some of your expert opinions? Would you buy a swivel/rotating car seat?

 

[SafeDad]

I've been out of the car seat loop for a long time but I'm expecting my first grandchild soon and I want to buy her a ver safe seat. I know all car seats sold in the United States pass federal safety tests, but I have a gut feeling that these swivel/rotating seats (like the Orbit) are risky. In my mind, the more parts a seat has, the more likely something can go wrong? Also, I read that the Orbit was named as Do Not Buy from Consumer Reports a few years ago.

So what are some of your expert opinions? Would you buy a swivel/rotating car seat?

Hi Jillian, this is a great question. Rotating car seats are the hot part of the market right now and everyone is coming out with one, it seems. Extra cost, weight, space, mechanisms, and misuse potential are always potential drawbacks. Unfortunately, we have no way to compare them in terms of crash safety. Even third parties, like Consumer Reports, do only very limited testing. Sometimes (like many years ago with Orbit when they installed it in a manner not consistent with the manual) the tests are suspect and the testing protocols are almost always insufficient for comparative purposes. I know that doesn't leave us with much to provide you guidance until there is an actual recall or other finding :-(

We do have some findings of our own in our rotating car seats comparison here- https://carseatblog.com/56503/rotatingcarseatscomparison/

For my own use, I would probably skip a rotating car seat if I was buying one right now, unless there was a special need that makes the rotation feature a major consideration. At least for a while, I'd prefer to stick with a conventional model until we have another year or two of experience with the rotating models and see what shakes out. Other people love them, and for good reason, they are really handy when used correctly!

 

[jillianrose109]

Hi Jillian, this is a great question. Rotating car seats are the hot part of the market right now and everyone is coming out with one, it seems. Extra cost, weight, space, mechanisms, and misuse potential are always potential drawbacks. Unfortunately, we have no way to compare them in terms of crash safety. Even third parties, like Consumer Reports, do only very limited testing. Sometimes (like many years ago with Orbit when they installed it in a manner not consistent with the manual) the tests are suspect and the testing protocols are almost always insufficient for comparative purposes. I know that doesn't leave us with much to provide you guidance until there is an actual recall or other finding :-(

We do have some findings of our own in our rotating car seats comparison here- https://carseatblog.com/56503/rotatingcarseatscomparison/

For my own use, I would probably skip a rotating car seat if I was buying one right now, unless there was a special need that makes the rotation feature a major consideration. At least for a while, I'd prefer to stick with a conventional model until we have another year or two of experience with the rotating models and see what shakes out. Other people love them, and for good reason, they are really handy when used correctly!

Thank you so much for your reply. I'm of the same mindset as you... these seats are very new, so it's probably best to wait a few years and see if any problems arise. Thanks for the link as well. Have a great day!

 

[ketchupqueen]

Any time you add an extra connection, you add a potential for misuse or malfunction or failure. We've seen this in the past where rear facing only seats were recalled after their design led to seats not properly locking into bases and then detaching.

If properly used, I trust the testing they've been through. But that's a big caveat. Some are easier to use properly than others, but we also know the misuse rate is really high, so I tend to be skeptical of seats that require extra steps to use properly, especially when install is complicated as it is on some of these seats.


For me, I also have issues with how heavy a lot of these seats are. Particularly when seats are designed for extended rear facing or are heavy or both, the one feature I really want on a rear facing seat is downward rotation control, as that's the one I'm certain makes a difference in safety (a load leg or Australian style tether.) none of the rotating seats have it so far, and that right there is a deal-breaker for me.