What Are Child Safety Seat Ratings

The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is responsible for child safety seat ratings. The purpose of the ratings is two fold:

• To help consumers make educated decisions when buying safety seats for children.
• To help manufacturers be aware of those aspects of their product which should be improved.

The NHTSA inspects and evaluates safety seats for their ease of use and for their ease of installation. They grade them on each of the following categories:

• Whether the safety seat is pre-assembled or requires assembly after purchase.
• The clarity of the labeling attached to the safety seat.
• The clarity of the written instructions explaining the proper use of the safety seat.
• The ease with which a child can correctly be secured in the safety seat.
• Whether the safety seat has features that make it easy to correctly install in a vehicle.

Each category is assessed a letter grade,