Load Legs Give Child Car Seats Improved Safety in a Crash

The objective of Consumer Reports’ crash tests for car seats is to reflect current vehicle design and real-world crashes. To pass the current federal safety standard, car seats with load legs are tested without the load leg. However, we want to ensure that each seat is given its maximum benefit by implementing the use of the load leg in CR’s tests. Because this type of seat has become more commonplace, CR updated its crash-test sled—the fixture that simulates a frontal crash—to include a carpeted surface to better represent a vehicle floor. Previously, the load leg was extended to a steel plate on the sled floor.

• They are a welcome safety innovation. Our tests, using infant-sized dummies, showed the average head injury risk was about 43 percent less than the average head injury risk of car seat models with no load leg.
• A load leg isn’t enough on its own to ensure the highest margin of safety. Four of the load-leg infant seats scored Better for crash protection—on a par with some other seats without that feature. We saw the greatest benefit of reduced head injury risk when the car seat was installed with both the load leg and lower anchors across all models.
• Almost all of the child seats with load legs from the two groups were rated Very Good or Excellent in our ease-of-use testing. Although the load leg takes an additional step during installation, setup is fairly quick and easy in most vehicle seating positions. One caution is that center seating positions that have a large driveline “hump” in the floor may prevent the leg from being fully extended, and therefore require the seats be installed in the outboard seating positions. For example, Audi states in its vehicle owner’s manual that seats with load legs are to be used only in the rear outboard or front passenger seating positions.
• It is important to note that all our results for these seats are based on assessments and crash protection performed using the load leg, but these seats meet minimum government standards without using the leg.
• The LATCH fit-to-vehicle assessment for most of the seats was better than the belt fit-to-vehicle assessment because these seats include features that typically aid LATCH installation.
• These seats also tend to be more expensive than seats that include fewer features. Less expensive seats are still safe when used and installed correctly, but these seats offer an additional margin of safety and the potential for easier installation. One exception is the Evenflo LiteMax DLX, which is priced at $200.
• Regardless of the load leg’s benefits, CR still recommends moving to a rear-facing convertible seat no later than a child’s first birthday to further reduce the potential for head injury. With approximately 75 percent of the infant seats tested, the test dummy moved outside the protection of the car seat and its head made contact with the simulated front seatback—even with a load leg.
• In order for load legs to be widely used, the floors of some cars might need to be reinforced to support them. Stellantis cautions against using load legs in its vehicles because the floor is not designed to support the load, which can be greatly magnified during a crash. Be sure to check your vehicle owner’s manual for load-leg compatibility.