Car Crash Stats Methodology
The SafeWise team evaluated car crash data from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to determine which states in the country had the highest and lowest numbers of child car crash fatalities per 100,000 children. We also examined state laws on child safety and pediatric recommendations for the best safety practices for children up to 13 years old.
Bucket Seat And Bench Seat
A bucket seat is a separate seat with a contoured platform designed to accommodate one person, distinct from a bench seat that is a flat platform designed to seat up to three people. Individual bucket seats typically have rounded backs and may offer a variety of adjustments to fit different passengers.
I Still Want Real Leather Where Can I Find It
Again, many automakers have switched to synthetic leather to help keep the costs of their vehicles in check. Even premium brands like BMW and Mercedes-Benz install man-made materials in their entry-level vehicles. In general, you can find real leather by doing a few things:
- Buy used: If youre willing to buy a vehicle from a few years back, especially from a luxury brand, youll have a better chance of finding one with real-deal leather inside.
- Buy premium: You said you were fancy, right? Put your money where your mouth is and pony up for a premium model from a premium brand.
- Read the label: Carmakers have gotten clever with marketing buzzwords for synthetic leather, using terms like MBTex, StarTex, and others. In fact, if you see any variation of tex on the window sticker, youre getting synthetic leather.
The real thing to bring up here is that synthetic leather is fine. It feels decent, cleans easier, and is cheaper than the real thing. Get over yourself and try it. You might like it.
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I Introduction To Cleaning Car Leather Seats
Maintaining and cleaning leather seats can be a hassle if you are not prepared for the task. There are many cleaning products and techniques, but you dont want to risk damaging your expensive leather.
So weve consulted with our best detailers who have decades of combined experience to create the most comprehensive guide on the Internet to cleaning leather car seats.
In this guide, well go over the different types of leathers used in cars, causes of leather wear, the best ways to clean leather car seats, and how to condition leather seats and then go over some tips on how you can maintain your leather.
It gets better
Weve included our best kept secrets to clean leather seats.
Clek Liing And Liingo Infant Car Seats
Key stats:
The Clek Liing infant car seat is extremely easy to install whether youre using its rigid LATCH or the seatbelt, eliminating lots of worries for first-time parents. Its compact in all the ways that matter, making it a great choice for those driving small cars or who need to fit three car seats in the back. Its also fairly light at just 9 pounds including all of the inserts and the canopy .
Fortunately the size limits are pretty generous at 35 pounds or 32 or 1 of shell height, whichever comes first. Thatll last most kids until 12-18 months, mostly depending on torso length.
The Liing is compatible with lots of stroller choices since it works with Maxi-Cosi adapters. Youll be able to use it with Uppababy, Baby Jogger and more!
If youre a city-dweller without your own car, Clek recently added a new option to save you some serious money : you can now buy the Clek Liingo infant car seat. The car seat itself is pretty much the same, but instead of the full base it comes with a detachable LATCH bin think of that as a mini-base with flexible LATCH connectors. Without the LATCH bin it still weighs just 9 pounds, and its easy to install using a seatbelt when youre hopping in and out of Ubers or taxis. Its also not kidding about half the price of the Clek Liing!
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The Pros Of Vinyl Car Seats
Vinyl may sound like a cheaper option when it comes to car seats, but modern versions of the material look and feel much better than you might think. Here are some of the benefits of vinyl car seats:
- Easy to maintain where leather takes some maintenance, vinyl is the exact opposite. Made from durable plastic, vinyl is a doddle to maintain and will continue to look good-as-new no matter how many miles you cover.
- Simple to clean if your kids make a mess on every car journey, or you regularly take your four-legged friend on family outings, vinyl seats can be a godsend. Wipeable and stain-resistant, its the perfect material for those who constantly find themselves wiping up spills.
- Environmentally-friendly some vinyl furnishings are made from recycled plastics, making them incredibly environmentally-friendly.
Cosco Apt 50 Convertible Car Seat
Key stats:
The Cosco Apt 50 convertible car seat is pretty similar to the Scenera Next above you can see a full comparison of them. The Apt 50 is also manufactured in Indiana and will fit kids forward facing a little longer than the Cosco Scenera Next.
Its still incredibly light weight and meets federal car seat safety standards, all while coming in at a bargain price. Both of those features make it an excellent choice for travel with toddlers.
Like the Scenera Next, the Apt 50 comes with a few different cover options. Its worth spending a few dollars extra to get the nicer solid color cover.
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C Body Oils And Sweat
Another unavoidable cause of leather wear: body oils and sweat.
When you drive, you may sweat and these fluids get absorbed into your leather. Over time, this will reduce the lifespan of the leather.
The leather should have a matte look. The shine you see in your leather seats comes from body oils and sweat.
Vinyl Vs Cloth Vs Leather
Vinyl Seats
This is the most affordable seating trim option and comes with a few added benefits. Vinyl might not be the best-looking option for seating trim, but it is certainly the easiest to clean and maintain. Vinyl is made from plastic, so it doesnt not stain or tear as easily as cloth or leather. It can handle mud and salt and water much better than other seating materials.
However, the downside to vinyl, other than the less stylish appearance, is that it can be uncomfortably sweaty and hot in the summer.
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Cloth Seats
More affordable than leather, and certainly more stylish than vinyl, cloth seats are the perfect middle ground. Commonly chosen for its comfort and affordability, cloth seating trim is breathable and feels nice, even on longer road trips.
The downside to cloth seating is that it can tear and stain much more easily than vinyl. It can also be harder to clean cloth seats as the fibers hold onto smells and spills.
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Leather Seats
The top of the line, when it comes to car seating, is leather. It is the most expensive, most stylish, and best looking option for a new car. If properly maintained, leather seating can look great and prove to be one of the more durable seating options available.
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What Material Is Used For Car Seats Which One Is Best
The interior of a car is the next most attractive part any car owner wants to choose after the outer look of a car carefully. Indeed, the elegance of car upholstery adds to the value of a car that is why many car owners are interested in the material used in producing their car seats.
When choosing the material of your car seat, you need to know there are five different types of choices to choose from while shopping for a car. The various kinds include Nylon, Leather, Polyester, Vinyl and faux materials. There are hybrid of the different car seat cover materials. These combinations will look like you have more types to deal with than the five mentioned above, but you will still be dealing with car seat materials from the five types.
For instance, you will hear of ballistic nylon, or canvas and neoprene materials. Upon a closer study of the composition of each one, you will find out they are made from a combination of the primary materials to make more choices available to car owners. However, we will examine the auto seat covers materials below to learn more about them.
Different types of car seat materials
The kind of material used for your vehicles seat will determine the level of comfort you get sitting on the seat. It will also determine the durability and maintenance of the seat.
The material is easy to maintain and clean and especially the choice fabric for car owners with children and pets.
Nuna Pipa Lite: Lightest Car Seat
We only recommend choosing the Nuna Pipa Lite if having a lightweight car seat is your hands-down number-one priority and/or if you need to prioritize stroller compatibility. It falls flat in pretty much every other category, which is disappointing when you consider its price tag.
For starters, it has a lower weight limit than other rear-facing-only car seats so your child may not get as much use out of it as another car seat model. Second, it meets but doesnt exceed the federal minimum standards for chest acceleration in crash tests . It does fare better in terms of head injury criteria, testing over 50% better than the federal minimum with a score of 431.
Could be easier to use
Speaking of federal tests, the NHTSA noted that many of the Nuna Pipa Lites labels and instructions were missing, unclear, or incomplete and that it only had two reclining positions. The Nuna Pipa earned an overall ease of use score of four.10
The padding material is hand wash only. We got a little riled up about this at first , but then we realized its also biodegradable, anti-bacterial, stain-resistant, and highly absorbent. All right, well admit it: that sounds like a fabric worth taking care of properly.
Good stroller compatibility
We also like that the Nuna Pipa Lite is compatible with around 15 different strollers, which should give you plenty of variety for finding one that fits your budget and expectations.
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Primo Viaggio Nido: Anti
In third-party tests, the Primo Viaggio Nido exceeded federal standards for head injury criteria by about 55% and exceeded chest acceleration standards by over 20%.
The Primo Viaggio Nido suits children up to 35 pounds or 32 inches tall. Its relatively lightweight as an infant carrier, weighing around 10 pounds.
Could be easier to use
The Primo Viaggio Nidos main flaw is that its not the easiest to use, at least according to the NHTSA.4 Its report mentions that some labels are missing and that some parts come loose during the rethreading process.
Without clear labeling, your family and friends run the risk of installing the base or car seat incorrectlyor even improperly securing your childif theyve never been trained to do it.
Hand wash only
We think a hand-wash-only car seat liner like the Primo Viaggio Nido is really inconvenient for busy and tired parents. But if you already have a routine for hand washing items, perhaps youll be undeterred.
Otherwise, skip on down to our easiest to clean pick.
How The Leather In Your Car Seat Is Made
Leather is all around us. Its in our car seats, upholstery, garments, shoes, and accessories. Not without reason, as leather has been a material weve used for millennia. Primitive man hunted animals for food, and the hides were turned into a useful by-product: leather, used for clothing, housing and protection. The ancient Egyptians wore leather sandals. The Greeks developed the first vegetable-based tanning methods to make leather last longer. In our modes of transport and homes, we used leather for its remarkable properties, but how is it actually made?
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Understanding The Ease Of Use Results
The NHTSA created an Ease of Use rating system for car seats and publishes its findings every year.
We tracked down those reports and sifted through the data for you. Because the NHTSA recommends discarding car seats more than 10 years old, we only looked at data from the past 10 years.
The NHTSA evaluates child restraint ease of use across four categories:
- Usability of labels
- Ease of securing the child
- Ease of installation in a vehicle
Each car seat is given a category and overall rating on a scale of one through five, with one being the lowest and five being the highest. Ratings are weighted, which in this case means ease of installation in a vehicle is the most significant factor contributing to a car seats overall rating, and usability of manual is the least important factor.
Combination And Booster Seats Made In The Usa
The safest option for your child is to stay in a harnessed car seat until they reach its upper limits. There are lots of wonderful made in the USA booster seats that can keep your kids safely harnessed until 6 years old. Beyond that, a seat belt positioning booster seat is an important step before kids can safely ride with an adult seat belt often not until 10-12 years old.
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Evenflo Litemax Infant Car Seats
Key stats:
Maybe Im biased as an Ohioan, but I have a really soft spot for Evenflo car seats. Weve owned them for the last 7 years and this one kept my son completely injury-free during a terrible accident. My daughter still rides in a different Evenflo seat today . We didnt try their infant seats because the offering werent quite as fancy back then, but the newest Evenflo infant car seats have a lot going for them in terms of both features and value.
The Evenflo LiteMax is one of the cheapest infant car seats out there but its still really impressive! Its very lightweight at only 7.8 pounds and it offers the lowest approved weight limit around at 3 pounds. Its one of the lightest infant car seats around, making it perfect for families who want to travel when their kids are tiny.
The low weight rating combined with plenty of adjustments for harness, hip and crotch straps makes this one of the best car seats for preemies available today. Note that some versions of the manual say theres a 4 pound minimum, but Evenflo has updated their approvals.
At the top end of the range, the LiteMax goes up to 35 pounds and 32 itll last most kids past their first birthdays. Keep in mind that your baby still needs to have 1 of shell height above their heads, and that may be your limiting factor.
Q: So Automakers Use It To Make Themselves Look Friendly To Animals What If I Dont Feel The Same
A: We assume you dont feel that using leather is bad, not that you have malice toward animals. If you dont feel the same, dont tell us. Use your dollars and vote with your wallet. Just like brown station wagons, car companies wont make them if you arent buying them. And dont look at us, were still rocking the plaid seats in our 86 GTI.
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Usa Car Seat Manufacturers Faqs
Where are Britax car seats made?
Most Britax car seats are made in the USA, while a few are made in China.
Where are Evenflo car seats made?
Most Evenflo car seats are made in the USA, while a few are made in China.
Where are Graco car seats made?
Graco car seats are made in China.
Where are Chicco car seats made?
Chicco car seats are made in China.
Where are Diono car seats made?
Diono car seats are made in China.
Where are Maxi Cosi car seats made?
Most Maxi Cosi car seats are made in a the USA, while a few are made in Europe.
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Clek Olli & Clek Ozzi Backless Booster Seat
Key stats:
Once your child has outgrown their 5-point harness and high back booster seat options, shell probably still need a few years in a backless booster seat before she fits safely in an adult seat belt. The Clek Olli and Clek Ozzi backless booster seats fit the bill nicely and are assembled right here in Ohio!
These are great booster seats for mature kids who dont want to feel like theyre riding around in a baby seat. Theyre designed to fit kids up to 49 and 120 lbs thats around 11 years old on average.
Whats the difference between the Clek Olli and Clek Ozzi? Theyre pretty similar in concept, but the Olli offers more premium creature comforts like a cupholder, padded arm rests and a carry strap.
If your child would benefit from extra support for sleeping you can check out the made in Canada Clek Oobr high back booster seat.
I hope this list has shown you just a few of the excellent car seats made in the US! Whats your favorite made in the USA car seat?
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Why Fake Leather Is Better Than Real Leather
Price Its probably a bold statement to claim that faux leather is better than real leather but these days I really do believe that its true. First and foremost, leatherette is cheaper than real leather and this matters for several reasons. For a start, a new car, SUV, or truck with a faux leather interior will cost less to buy than one with real leather.
On top of that, you wont be as worried or as precious about your car interior and how it gets used and abused if its fake leather because it wont take as much to clean or cost as much to repair or replace if it gets damaged. A set of replacement seat covers in fake leather will rarely break the bank, but if you try to replace a full interior made of real leather youd probably be better off trading the vehicle in for another instead.
Durability I will admit that its hard to beat real leather car upholstery if you only keep your new vehicle for a year or two and you only do average miles. Unfortunately, the big drawback about real leather is when it gets old and has had people sitting on it for a lot of miles. Leather wears and shows its age far more than leatherette and a whole lot more than a durable cloth interior as time and miles go by.
Ive been looking recently at buying a cheap used Mercedes-Benz SLK for a bit of fun in the summer weather. From around 2004 onwards they still look fairly modern and you can get one with less than 100k miles for not a lot of money. The problem for me is the leather seats.
